RCW 69.25.020
Definitions. (Effective until August 1,
2012.)
When used in this chapter the following terms shall have
the indicated meanings, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Department" means the department of agriculture of the
state of Washington.
(2) "Director" means the director of the department or his
duly authorized representative.
(3) "Person" means any natural person, firm, partnership,
exchange, association, trustee, receiver, corporation, and any
member, officer, or employee thereof, or assignee for the benefit
of creditors.
(4) "Adulterated" applies to any egg or egg product under
one or more of the following circumstances:
(a) If it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious
substance which may render it injurious to health; but in case
the substance is not an added substance, such article shall not
be considered adulterated under this clause if the quantity of
such substance in or on such article does not ordinarily render
it injurious to health;
(b) If it bears or contains any added poisonous or added
deleterious substance (other than one which is: (i) A pesticide
chemical in or on a raw agricultural commodity; (ii) a food
additive; or (iii) a color additive) which may, in the judgment
of the director, make such article unfit for human food;
(c) If it is, in whole or in part, a raw agricultural
commodity and such commodity bears or contains a pesticide
chemical which is unsafe within the meaning of RCW 69.04.392, as
enacted or hereafter amended;
(d) If it bears or contains any food additive which is
unsafe within the meaning of RCW 69.04.394, as enacted or
hereafter amended;
(e) If it bears or contains any color additive which is
unsafe within the meaning of RCW 69.04.396, as enacted or
hereafter amended: PROVIDED, That an article which is not
otherwise deemed adulterated under subsection (4)(c), (d), or (e)
of this section shall nevertheless be deemed adulterated if use
of the pesticide chemical, food additive, or color additive, in
or on such article, is prohibited by regulations of the director
in official plants;
(f) If it consists in whole or in part of any filthy,
putrid, or decomposed substance, or if it is otherwise unfit for
human food;
(g) If it consists in whole or in part of any damaged egg or
eggs to the extent that the egg meat or white is leaking, or it
has been contacted by egg meat or white leaking from other eggs;
(h) If it has been prepared, packaged, or held under
insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated
with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to
health;
(i) If it is an egg which has been subjected to incubation
or the product of any egg which has been subjected to incubation;
(j) If its container is composed, in whole or in part, of
any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render the
contents injurious to health;
(k) If it has been intentionally subjected to radiation,
unless the use of the radiation was in conformity with a
regulation or exemption in effect pursuant to RCW 69.04.394; or
(l) If any valuable constituent has been in whole or in part
omitted or abstracted therefrom; or if any substance has been
substituted, wholly or in part therefor; or if damage or
inferiority has been concealed in any manner; or if any substance
has been added thereto or mixed or packed therewith so as to
increase its bulk or weight, or reduce its quality or strength,
or make it appear better or of greater value than it is.
(5) "Capable of use as human food" shall apply to any egg or
egg product unless it is denatured, or otherwise identified, as
required by regulations prescribed by the director, to deter its
use as human food.
(6) "Intrastate commerce" means any eggs or egg products in
intrastate commerce, whether such eggs or egg products are
intended for sale, held for sale, offered for sale, sold, stored,
transported, or handled in this state in any manner and prepared
for eventual distribution in this state, whether at wholesale or
retail.
(7) "Container" or "package" includes any box, can, tin,
plastic, or other receptacle, wrapper, or cover.
(8) "Immediate container" means any consumer package, or any
other container in which egg products, not consumer-packaged, are
packed.
(9) "Shipping container" means any container used in
packaging a product packed in an immediate container.
(10) "Egg handler" or "dealer" means any person who
produces, contracts for or obtains possession or control of any
eggs for the purpose of sale to another dealer or retailer, or
for processing and sale to a dealer, retailer or consumer:
PROVIDED, That for the purpose of this chapter, "sell" or "sale"
includes the following: Offer for sale, expose for sale, have in
possession for sale, exchange, barter, trade, or as an inducement
for the sale of another product.
(11) "Egg product" means any dried, frozen, or liquid eggs,
with or without added ingredients, excepting products which
contain eggs only in a relatively small proportion, or
historically have not been, in the judgment of the director,
considered by consumers as products of the egg food industry, and
which may be exempted by the director under such conditions as he
may prescribe to assure that the egg ingredients are not
adulterated and such products are not represented as egg
products.
(12) "Egg" means the shell egg of the domesticated chicken,
turkey, duck, goose, or guinea, or any other specie of fowl.
(13) "Check" means an egg that has a broken shell or crack
in the shell but has its shell membranes intact and contents not
leaking.
(14) "Clean and sound shell egg" means any egg whose shell
is free of adhering dirt or foreign material and is not cracked
or broken.
(15) "Dirty egg" means an egg that has a shell that is
unbroken and has adhering dirt or foreign material.
(16) "Incubator reject" means an egg that has been subjected
to incubation and has been removed from incubation during the
hatching operations as infertile or otherwise unhatchable.
(17) "Inedible" means eggs of the following descriptions:
Black rots, yellow rots, white rots, mixed rots (addled eggs),
sour eggs, eggs with green whites, eggs with stuck yolks, moldy
eggs, musty eggs, eggs showing blood rings, and eggs containing
embryo chicks (at or beyond the blood ring stage).
(18) "Leaker" means an egg that has a crack or break in the
shell and shell membranes to the extent that the egg contents are
exposed or are exuding or free to exude through the shell.
(19) "Loss" means an egg that is unfit for human food
because it is smashed or broken so that its contents are leaking;
or overheated, frozen, or contaminated; or an incubator reject;
or because it contains a bloody white, large meat spots, a large
quantity of blood, or other foreign material.
(20) "Restricted egg" means any check, dirty egg, incubator
reject, inedible, leaker, or loss.
(21) "Inspection" means the application of such inspection
methods and techniques as are deemed necessary by the director to
carry out the provisions of this chapter.
(22) "Inspector" means any employee or official of the
department authorized to inspect eggs or egg products under the
authority of this chapter.
(23) "Misbranded" shall apply to egg products which are not
labeled and packaged in accordance with the requirements
prescribed by regulations of the director under RCW 69.25.100.
(24) "Official certificate" means any certificate prescribed
by regulations of the director for issuance by an inspector or
other person performing official functions under this chapter.
(25) "Official device" means any device prescribed or
authorized by the director for use in applying any official mark.
(26) "Official inspection legend" means any symbol
prescribed by regulations of the director showing that egg
products were inspected in accordance with this chapter.
(27) "Official mark" means the official inspection legend or
any other symbol prescribed by regulations of the director to
identify the status of any article under this chapter.
(28) "Official plant" means any plant which is licensed
under the provisions of this chapter, at which inspection of the
processing of egg products is maintained by the United States
department of agriculture or by the state under cooperative
agreements with the United States department of agriculture or by
the state.
(29) "Official standards" means the standards of quality,
grades, and weight classes for eggs, adopted under the provisions
of this chapter.
(30) "Pasteurize" means the subjecting of each particle of
egg products to heat or other treatments to destroy harmful,
viable micro-organisms by such processes as may be prescribed by
regulations of the director.
(31) "Pesticide chemical", "food additive", "color
additive", and "raw agricultural commodity" shall have the same
meaning for purposes of this chapter as prescribed in chapter 69.04 RCW.
(32) "Plant" means any place of business where egg products
are processed.
(33) "Processing" means manufacturing egg products,
including breaking eggs or filtering, mixing, blending,
pasteurizing, stabilizing, cooling, freezing, drying, or
packaging egg products.
(34) "Retailer" means any person in intrastate commerce who
sells eggs to a consumer.
(35) "At retail" means any transaction in intrastate
commerce between a retailer and a consumer.
(36) "Consumer" means any person who purchases eggs for his
or her own family use or consumption; or any restaurant, hotel,
boarding house, bakery, or other institution or concern which
purchases eggs for serving to guests or patrons thereof, or for
its own use in cooking or baking.
(37) "Candling" means the examination of the interior of
eggs by the use of transmitted light used in a partially dark
room or place.
(38) "Master license system" means the mechanism established
by chapter 19.02 RCW by which master licenses, endorsed for
individual state-issued licenses, are issued and renewed
utilizing a master application and a master license expiration
date common to each renewable license endorsement.
(39) "Ambient temperature" means the atmospheric temperature
surrounding or encircling shell eggs.
[1995 c 374 § 25; 1982 c 182 § 42; 1975 1st ex.s. c 201 § 3.]
NOTES:
Effective date -- 1995 c 374 §§ 1-47, 50-53, and 59-68: See note following RCW 15.36.012.
RCW 69.25.020
Definitions. (Effective August 1, 2012.)
When used in this chapter the following terms shall have the
indicated meanings, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Adulterated" applies to any egg or egg product under
one or more of the following circumstances:
(a) If it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious
substance which may render it injurious to health; but in case
the substance is not an added substance, such article shall not
be considered adulterated under this clause if the quantity of
such substance in or on such article does not ordinarily render
it injurious to health;
(b) If it bears or contains any added poisonous or added
deleterious substance (other than one which is: (i) A pesticide
chemical in or on a raw agricultural commodity; (ii) a food
additive; or (iii) a color additive) which may, in the judgment
of the director, make such article unfit for human food;
(c) If it is, in whole or in part, a raw agricultural
commodity and such commodity bears or contains a pesticide
chemical which is unsafe within the meaning of RCW 69.04.392, as
enacted or hereafter amended;
(d) If it bears or contains any food additive which is
unsafe within the meaning of RCW 69.04.394, as enacted or
hereafter amended;
(e) If it bears or contains any color additive which is
unsafe within the meaning of RCW 69.04.396; however, an article
which is not otherwise deemed adulterated under subsection (1)(c), (d), or (e) of this section shall nevertheless
be deemed adulterated if use of the pesticide chemical, food
additive, or color additive, in or on such article, is prohibited
by regulations of the director in official plants;
(f) If it consists in whole or in part of any filthy,
putrid, or decomposed substance, or if it is otherwise unfit for
human food;
(g) If it consists in whole or in part of any damaged egg or
eggs to the extent that the egg meat or white is leaking, or it
has been contacted by egg meat or white leaking from other eggs;
(h) If it has been prepared, packaged, or held under
insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated
with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to
health;
(i) If it is an egg which has been subjected to incubation
or the product of any egg which has been subjected to incubation;
(j) If its container is composed, in whole or in part, of
any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render the
contents injurious to health;
(k) If it has been intentionally subjected to radiation,
unless the use of the radiation was in conformity with a
regulation or exemption in effect pursuant to RCW 69.04.394; or
(l) If any valuable constituent has been in whole or in part
omitted or abstracted therefrom; or if any substance has been
substituted, wholly or in part therefor; or if damage or
inferiority has been concealed in any manner; or if any substance
has been added thereto or mixed or packed therewith so as to
increase its bulk or weight, or reduce its quality or strength,
or make it appear better or of greater value than it is.
(2) "Ambient temperature" means the atmospheric temperature
surrounding or encircling shell eggs.
(3) "At retail" means any transaction in intrastate commerce
between a retailer and a consumer.
(4) "Candling" means the examination of the interior of eggs
by the use of transmitted light used in a partially dark room or
place.
(5) "Capable of use as human food" shall apply to any egg or
egg product unless it is denatured, or otherwise identified, as
required by regulations prescribed by the director, to deter its
use as human food.
(6) "Check" means an egg that has a broken shell or crack in
the shell but has its shell membranes intact and contents not
leaking.
(7) "Clean and sound shell egg" means any egg whose shell is
free of adhering dirt or foreign material and is not cracked or
broken.
(8) "Consumer" means any person who purchases eggs for his
or her own family use or consumption; or any restaurant, hotel,
boarding house, bakery, or other institution or concern which
purchases eggs for serving to guests or patrons thereof, or for
its own use in cooking or baking.
(9) "Container" or "package" includes any box, can, tin,
plastic, or other receptacle, wrapper, or cover.
(10) "Department" means the department of agriculture of the
state of Washington.
(11) "Director" means the director of the department or his
duly authorized representative.
(12) "Dirty egg" means an egg that has a shell that is
unbroken and has adhering dirt or foreign material.
(13) "Egg" means the shell egg of the domesticated chicken,
turkey, duck, goose, or guinea, or any other specie of fowl.
(14) "Egg handler" or "dealer" means any person who
produces, contracts for or obtains possession or control of any
eggs or egg products for the purpose of sale to another dealer or
retailer, or for processing and sale to a dealer, retailer or
consumer. For the purpose of this chapter, "sell" or "sale"
includes the following: Offer for sale, expose for sale, have in
possession for sale, exchange, barter, trade, or as an inducement
for the sale of another product.
(15)(a) "Egg product" means any dried, frozen, or liquid
eggs, with or without added ingredients, excepting products which
contain eggs only in a relatively small proportion, or
historically have not been, in the judgment of the director,
considered by consumers as products of the egg food industry, and
which may be exempted by the director under such conditions as
the director may prescribe to assure that the egg ingredients are
not adulterated and are not represented as egg products.
(b) The following products are not included in the
definition of "egg product" if they are prepared from eggs or egg
products that have been either inspected by the United States
department of agriculture or by the department under a
cooperative agreement with the United States department of
agriculture: Freeze-dried products, imitation egg products, egg
substitutes, dietary foods, dried no-bake custard mixes, eggnog
mixes, acidic dressings, noodles, milk and egg dip, cake mixes,
French toast, balut and other similar ethnic delicacies, and
sandwiches containing eggs or egg products.
(16) "Immediate container" means any consumer package, or
any other container in which egg products, not consumer-packaged,
are packed.
(17) "Incubator reject" means an egg that has been subjected
to incubation and has been removed from incubation during the
hatching operations as infertile or otherwise unhatchable.
(18) "Inedible" means eggs of the following descriptions:
Black rots, yellow rots, white rots, mixed rots (addled eggs),
sour eggs, eggs with green whites, eggs with stuck yolks, moldy
eggs, musty eggs, eggs showing blood rings, and eggs containing
embryo chicks (at or beyond the blood ring stage).
(19) "Inspection" means the application of such inspection
methods and techniques as are deemed necessary by the director to
carry out the provisions of this chapter.
(20) "Inspector" means any employee or official of the
department authorized to inspect eggs or egg products under the
authority of this chapter.
(21) "Intrastate commerce" means any eggs or egg products in
intrastate commerce, whether such eggs or egg products are
intended for sale, held for sale, offered for sale, sold, stored,
transported, or handled in this state in any manner and prepared
for eventual distribution in this state, whether at wholesale or
retail.
(22) "Leaker" means an egg that has a crack or break in the
shell and shell membranes to the extent that the egg contents are
exposed or are exuding or free to exude through the shell.
(23) "Loss" means an egg that is unfit for human food
because it is smashed or broken so that its contents are leaking;
or overheated, frozen, or contaminated; or an incubator reject;
or because it contains a bloody white, large meat spots, a large
quantity of blood, or other foreign material.
(24) "Master license system" means the mechanism established
by chapter 19.02 RCW by which master licenses, endorsed for
individual state-issued licenses, are issued and renewed
utilizing a master application and a master license expiration
date common to each renewable license endorsement.
(25) "Misbranded" shall apply to egg products which are not
labeled and packaged in accordance with the requirements
prescribed by regulations of the director under RCW 69.25.100.
(26) "Official certificate" means any certificate prescribed
by regulations of the director for issuance by an inspector or
other person performing official functions under this chapter.
(27) "Official device" means any device prescribed or
authorized by the director for use in applying any official mark.
(28) "Official inspection legend" means any symbol
prescribed by regulations of the director showing that egg
products were inspected in accordance with this chapter.
(29) "Official mark" means the official inspection legend or
any other symbol prescribed by regulations of the director to
identify the status of any article under this chapter.
(30) "Official plant" means any plant which is licensed
under the provisions of this chapter, at which inspection of the
processing of egg products is maintained by the United States
department of agriculture or by the state under cooperative
agreements with the United States department of agriculture or by
the state.
(31) "Official standards" means the standards of quality,
grades, and weight classes for eggs, adopted under the provisions
of this chapter.
(32) "Pasteurize" means the subjecting of each particle of
egg products to heat or other treatments to destroy harmful,
viable micro-organisms by such processes as may be prescribed by
regulations of the director.
(33) "Person" means any natural person, firm, partnership,
exchange, association, trustee, receiver, corporation, and any
member, officer, or employee thereof, or assignee for the benefit
of creditors.
(34) "Pesticide chemical," "food additive," "color
additive," and "raw agricultural commodity" shall have the same
meaning for purposes of this chapter as prescribed in chapter 69.04 RCW.
(35) "Plant" means any place of business where egg products
are processed.
(36) "Processing" means manufacturing egg products,
including breaking eggs or filtering, mixing, blending,
pasteurizing, stabilizing, cooling, freezing, drying, or
packaging egg products.
(37) "Restricted egg" means any check, dirty egg, incubator
reject, inedible, leaker, or loss.
(38) "Retailer" means any person in intrastate commerce who
sells eggs to a consumer.
(39) "Shipping container" means any container used in
packaging a product packed in an immediate container.
[2011 c 306 § 1; 1995 c 374 § 25; 1982 c 182 § 42; 1975 1st ex.s. c 201 § 3.]
NOTES:
Reviser's note: The definitions in this section have been alphabetized pursuant to RCW 1.08.015(2)(k).
Effective date -- 2011 c 306: "This act takes effect August 1, 2012." [2011 c 306 § 7.]
Effective date -- 1995 c 374 §§ 1-47, 50-53, and 59-68: See note following RCW 15.36.012.