CHAPTER 464

AN ACT to amend and reenact §§ 61-78 through 61-82, 61-85, 61-86, 61-89,
61-91 and 61-93 of the Code of Virginia, relating, generally, to
refrigerated locker plants, so as to define and include food processing
plants within the scope thereof.

{H 566]

Approved March 29, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 61-78 through 61-82, 61-85, 61-86, 61-89, 61-91 and 61-93 of the
Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 61-78. This chapter is in exercise of the police powers of the State
for the protection of the safety, health and welfare of the people of the
State. It is hereby found and declared that the public welfare requires
control and regulation of the operation of refrigerated locker and food
processing plants, and of the sale, processing, and handling of human food
in connection therewith, and the control, inspection, and regulation of
persons engaged therein, in order to prevent or eliminate unsanitary,
unhealthful, fraudulent, or unfair practices and conditions in connection
with the refrigerated locker plant and food processing business, which
practices and conditions endanger public health, defraud customers,
jeopardize the public source of supply and storage facilities of essential
food products, and adversely affect an important and growing industry.
It is further found and declared that the regulation of the refrigerated
locker plant and food processing business, as above outlined, is in the
interest of the economic and social well-being and the health and safety
of the State and all of its people.

§ 61-79. Terms used in this chapter shall be defined as follows:

(1) “Refrigerated locker’, “cold-storage locker’, “locker” means any
separate or individual compartment, maintained at a temperature below ten
degrees Fahrenheit, offered to the public for the storage and preservation
of frozen food for human consumption, upon a rental or other basis pro-
viding compensation to the person offering such services.

(2) “Refrigerated locker plant”, ‘“cold-storage locker plant”, “locker
plant” means any place, premises or establishment where facilities for the
processing and freezing of human food and its subsequent storage in
refrigerated lockers is offered on a basis of compensation to the person
offering such services.

(3) “Branch locker plant” means any place, premises or establishment
offering refrigerated lockers for the storage of frozen food for human
consumption, such food having been previously prepared for storage at a
refrigerated locker plant.

(4) “Plant”, when used without qualification, applies to both locker
plants and branch locker plants with equal force.

(5) “Sharp freezer” means a separate room or compartment in which
food is frozen in preparation for storage in lockers.

_ (6) “Person” means any individual, partnership, corporation, as-
sociation, county, municipality, cooperative group, or other entity engaged
in the business of operating or owning or offering the services of refrig-
erated lockers as above defined.

(7) “Human food” or “food”? means all articles used for food, drink,
confectionery or condiment by man, whether simple, mixed or compound,
and any substance used as a constituent in the manufacture thereof.

we “Department” means the Department of Agriculture and Immi-
gration.

(9) “Board” means the Board of Agriculture and Immigration.

(10) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Agriculture and
Immigration.

(11) “Food processing plant” means any building, room, vehicle or
other place whose owner, operator or custodian advertises to the public
the services of cutting, wrapping, and packaging poultry, seafood, or meat
which is to be placed in a refrigerated locker plant or home freezer for
human consumption, but shall not include licensed retail food dealers
where cutting, wrapping, and packing poultry, seafood and meat is done
as normal and usual procedure.

(12) “Home freezer’ means any apparatus used in a restaurant or
private home for the storage and preservation of frozen food.

(18) “Advertise” means disseminating information to the public by
means of television or radio broadcasts, or by means of written, printed
or graphic matter, or by means of any mechanical apparatus including,
among other things, public address system and telephone. .

§ 61-80. No person shall hereafter engage within this State in the
business of owning, operating, or offering the services of a refrigerated
locker plant, * branch locker plant or food processing plant without having
obtained from the Department of Agriculture and Immigration a license
for each such place of business. Application for such license shall be made
in writing and under oath to the Department on such forms and with such
pertinent information as the Commissioner deems necessary. Such licenses
shall be granted as a matter of right upon showing that the applicant
has complied with the applicable provisions of the law and of the rules
and regulations governing locker plants, or food processing plants.

§ 61-81. There shall be paid to the Department of Agriculture and
Immigration with each application for a license to operate a refrigerated
locker plant, with or without food processing facilities on the premises, or
to operate a food processing plant without refrigerated lockers an annual
license fee * of thirty-five dollars.

*

The funds derived from such license fees shall be disbursed by the
Commissioner exclusively for the enforcement of this chapter or for the
benefit of the locker and food processing plant industry of Virginia.
Licenses shall be issued for the calendar year beginning on January first
and ending on December thirty-first of each year, but license fees for
initial applicants beginning the operation of their plants after June
thirtieth shall be one-half of the annual fees as above set forth.

§ 61-82. (a) The Commissioner, after notice and hearing, may revoke
the license issued for any locker plant or branch locker or food processing
plant for failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter or any
lawful rule or regulation of the Board hereunder. Before revoking any
license the Board or its authorized agent shall send the licensee by mail
written notice of such hearing not less than ten days before the hearing
and shall afford such licensee an opportunity to be heard in writing, in
person or by attorney with respect thereto at a time and place specified
in such notice.

(b) In the event any license is revoked, the Board or its authorized
agent may permit the continued operation of the plant involved upon such
conditions or under such supervision as the Board or its authorized agent
prescribes for a period of not to exceed six months, in order to enable
patrons to remove any food stored therein, but during such period no
additional food shall be received or stored in such plant.

(c) Any order made by the Commissioner or his authorized agent
suspending or revoking any license may be appealed to the circuit court of
the county or the corporation court of the city in which the licensed
premises are located.

§ 61-85. The Commission shall cause to be made periodically by his
authorized agent a thorough inspection of each establishment licensed
under this chapter to determine whether or not the premises are con-
structed, equipped and operated in accordance with the requirements of
this chapter and of all other laws of this State applicable to the operation
either of locker plants or branch locker or food processing plants or of the
handling of human food in connection therewith, and of all regulations
effective under this chapter relative to such operation. Such inspection
shall also be made of each vehicle used by operators of such plants or of
an establishment handling human food in connection therewith, when
such vehicle is used in transporting or distributing human food products
to or from such plants within the State.
§ 61-86. (a) Every operator of a locker plant or branch locker plant
shall provide a complete refrigeration system with adequate capacity and
with accurate and reliable controls for the maintenance of temperatures
as prescribed by the regulations issued under this chapter, and currently
in force. Every operator shall be required to provide a recording ther-
mometer or thermometers to make permanent record of temperatures in
the locker room or rooms. Recording thermometers shall be so located
that the details may be easily observed by the patrons of the plant, and
the daily records of temperatures shall be kept by the operator at his
place of business for a period of at least six months.

Food processing plants that do not offer lockers for rental to the public
shall maintain a permanent record of prescribed temperatures in the sharp
freezer, and shall have the recording thermometers so located that they
or it may be observed by patrons of the plant.

(b) Every person offering refrigerated lockers to the public shall
provide the following minimum facilities:

_ 1. A separate room or compartment for sharp freezing of foods prior
to introduction of this food into refrigerated lockers.

2. A refrigerated room or compartment containing individual lockers
for the storage of foods previously frozen.

(c) No unfrozen food shall be placed in a refrigerated locker.

(d) Such additional services or facilities as are provided by the oper-
ator of a plant, including chill room, age room, curing room, processing
room, slaughter house, smoke chamber or other facilities shall be sub-
ject to the provisions of this chapter, and the rules and regulations adopted
thereunder, except that when the operation of such facilities is covered
by an existing law, the minimum requirements of the existing law must
be met in every case.

(e) Every person, firm or corporation operating a food processing
plant shall provide the following minimum facilities:

1. A separate room or compartment for sharp freezing of foods prior
to introduction of this food into lockers or home freezers.

2. A separate room for chilling and aging.

§ 61-89. No tainted or decomposed food shall be stored in a refrig-
erator locker or food processing plant or branch locker plant.

§ 61-91. Every operator of a locker or food processing plant or
branch locker plant shall have a lien upon all the property of every kind
in his possession for all locker rentals, processing, handling or other
charges due.

§ 61-93. Persons who own or operate refrigerated locker plants or
branch locker or food processing plants shall not be construed to be ware-
housemen, nor shall receipts or other instruments issued by such persons
in the ordinary conduct of their business be construed to be negotiable
warehouse receipts.