Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 191

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 3, DELAWARE CODE, ENTITLED AGRICULTURE BY PROVIDING FOR INSPECTION OF LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY SLAUGHTERED OR PROCESSED; MEAT PRODUCTS; CONDEMNATION AND DESTRUCTION OF CARCASSES AND PRODUCTS UNFIT FOR HUMAN FOOD; REGULATION OF SANITATION OF ESTABLISHMENTS; REGULATION OF MARKING AND LABELING OF CARCASSES AND PRODUCTS THEREOF; PROVIDING PENALTIES; AND MAKING A SUPPLEMENTARY APPROPRIATION THEREFOR.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:

Section 1. Title 3, Delaware Code, is amended by adding thereto a new part to read:

PART VIII. MEAT INSPECTION

CHAPTER 87. MEAT AND POULTRY INSPECTION

SUBCHAPTER I. GENERALLY

§ 8701. Short title

This chapter may be cited as the "Meat and Poultry Products Inspection Act".

§ 8702. Declaration of policy

Meat, meat food products, and poultry products are an important source of the supply of human food in this State and legislation to assure that such food supplies are wholesome, unadulterated, and otherwise fit for human consumption, and properly labeled is in the public interest. Therefore, it is hereby declared to be the policy of this State to provide for the inspection as herein provided of livestock and poultry slaughtered, and the carcasses, parts thereof, meat food products and poultry products processed therefrom, for human food, at certain establishments to prevent the distribution in intrastate commerce, for human consumption of livestock and poultry carcasses and parts

thereof, meat food products, and poultry products which are unwholesome, adulterated or otherwise unfit for human food or improperly labeled.

§ 8703. Definitions

As used in this chapter :

(a) "Intrastate commerce" means commerce within this State.

(a) "Board" means the State Board of Agriculture of this State, or any person authorized to act in its stead.

(a) "Board of Health" means the State Board of Health.

(b) "Chief Inspector" means the employee of the State Board of Agriculture designated to be the Chief enforcement officer for this Chapter.

(c) "Livestock" means cattle, sheep, swine, or goats.

(d) "Meat" means any edible part of the carcass of any livestock.

(e) "Meat food product" means any article of food, or any article intended for or capable of use as human food, which is derived or prepared, in whole or in part, from any portion of any livestock, unless exempted by the Board upon its determination that the article (1) contains only a minimal amount of meat and is not represented as a meat food product or (2) is for medicinal purposes and is advertised only to the medical profession.

(f) "Poultry" means any live or slaughtered domesticated bird.

() "Poultry product" means any poultry which has been slaughtered for human food from which the blood, feathers, feet, heart, and viscera have been removed in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the Board, any edible part of poultry, or any human food product consisting of any edible part of poultry separately or in combination with other ingredients. However, any such human food product may be exempted from this definition by the Board upon its determination that the product (1) contains only a minimal amount of poultry

and is not represented as a poultry product or (2) is used for medicinal purposes and is advertised only to the medical profession.

(j) "Wholesome" means sound, healthful, clean and otherwise fit for human food.

(k) "Unwholesome" means

unsound, injurious to health, containing any biological residue not permitted by rules or regulations prescribed by the Board, or otherwise rendered unfit for human food;

(1) consisting in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance ;

(0) processed, prepared, packed, or held under unsanitary conditions whereby any livestock or poultry carcass or part thereof or any meat food product or poultry product may have become contaminated with filth or may have been rendered injurious to health ;

(1) produced in whole or in part from livestock or poultry which has died otherwise than by slaughter; or

(2) packaged in a container composed of any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render the contents injurious to health.

(1) "Adulterated" shall apply to any livestock or poultry carcass, part thereof, meat food product or poultry product under one or more of the following circumstances :

(1) 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 quality of such substance does not ordinarily render it injurious to health ;

(0) If it bears or contains any added poisonous or added deleterious substance, unless such substance is permitted in its production or is unavoidable under good manufacturing practices as may be determined by rules and regulations prescribed by the Board; Provided, that any quantity of such added substances exceeding the limit so fixed shall also be deemed to constitute adulteration ;

(3) If any substance has been substituted, wholly or in part, therefor ;

(4) If damage or inferiority has been concealed in any manner ;

(5) If any, valuable constituent has been in whole or in part omitted or abstracted therefrom ;

(6) 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.

(m) "Inspector" means an employee or official of this State authorized by the Board to :

(1) inspect livestock or poultry or carcasses or parts thereof, meat food products, or poultry products under the authority of this Chapter ; and,

(2) to inspect the premises, facilities, equipment, and surroundings of establishments.

(n) "Official inspection mark" means any symbol, formulated pursuant to rules and regulations prescribed by the Board stating that an article was inspected and passed.

(o) "Inspection service" means the official Government service within the Department of Agriculture of this State designated by the Board as having the responsibility for carrying out the provisions of this Chapter.

(p) "Container" and "package" include any box, can, tin, cloth, plastic, or any other receptacle, wrapper, or cover.

(q) "Official establishment" means any establishment in this State as determined by the Chief Inspector at which inspection of the slaughter of livestock or poultry or the processing of livestock or poultry carcasses or parts thereof, meat food products, or poultry products, is maintained under the authority of this Chapter.

(r) "Label" means any written, printed, or graphic material upon the shipping container, if any, or upon the immediate container, including but not limited to an individual consumer pack-

age, of an article, or accompanying such article.

(s) "Shipping container" means any container used or intended for use in packaging the article packed in an immediate container.

(t) "Immediate container" means any consumer package ; or any other container in which an article, not consumer packaged, is packed.

(u) "Federal Meat Inspection Act" means the Act of Congress approved March 4, 1907, as amended and extended (21 U.S.C. 71 et seq.) and the imported meat provisions or subsections 306 (b) and (c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 106 (b) and (c).

(v) "Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act" means the Act of Congress approved August 28, 1957, as amended (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.).

() "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association or other business entity.

§ 8704. Cost of inspection

The cost of inspection rendered under this Chapter shall be borne by the State.

§ 8705. Hours and days for slaughtering

Hours and days for slaughtering shall be established by the Board under the rules promulgated by it under this Chapter.

SUBCHAPTER II. INSPECTION

§ 8707. Inspection required

(a) For the purpose of preventing the entry into or movement in intrastate commerce of any livestock or poultry carcass, part thereof, meat food product or poultry product which is unwholesome or adulterated and is intended for or capable of use as human food, the Chief Inspector shall, where and to the extent considered by him necessary, cause to be made by inspectors ante-mortem inspection of livestock and poultry in any official establishment where livestock or poultry are slaughtered

for such commerce.

(b) For the purpose stated in subsection (a) , the Chief Inspector whenever slaughtering or other processing operations are being conducted, may cause to be made by inspectors postmortem inspection of the carcasses and parts thereof of each animal and bird slaughtered in any such official establishment and may cause to be made by inspectors an inspection of all meat food products and'poultry products processed in any official establishment in which meat food products or poultry products are processed for intrastate commerce.

(c) The Chief Inspector shall cause to be taken samples of livestock and poultry carcasses and parts thereof, meat food products and poultry products where and to the extent considered by him necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Chapter.

() The Chief Inspector shall also cause, at any time, such quarantine, segregation, and reinspection of livestock and poultry, livestock and poultry carcasses and parts there of, meat food products and poultry products in official establishments as he deems necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Chapter.

(a) All livestock and poultry carcasses and parts thereof, meant food products, and poultry products found by an inspector to be unwholesome or adulterated in any official establishment shall be condemned and shall, if no appeal be taken from such determination of condemnation, be destroyed for human food purposes under the supervision of an inspector: Provided, That articles, which may by reprocessing be made not unwholesome and not adulterated, need not be so condemned and destroyed if so reprocessed under the supervision of an inspector and thereafter found to be not unwholesome and not adulterated. If any appeal be taken from such determination, the articles shall be appropriately marked and segregated pending completion of an appeal inspection, which appeal shall be at the cost of the appellant if the Board determines that the appeal is frivolous. If the determination of condemnation is sustained, the articles shall be destroyed for human food purposes under the supervision of an inspector.

(b) No official establishment in this State shall slaughter any livestock or poultry or process any livestock or poultry or

process any livestock or poultry carcasses, or parts thereof, meat food products, or poultry products, for human consumption, except in compliance with the requirements of this Chapter.

(g) For the purpose of this Chapter, the Board shall employ as inspectors persons who are trained and skilled in the inspection of meats and meat food products for wholesomeness and healthfulness. This does not apply to Chief Inspector who must be a veterinarian.

§ 8708. Standards for official establishments

(a) The premises, facilities and equipment of each official establishment shall be maintained, kept and operated in accordance with regulations approved by the State Board of Agriculture.

() Every vehicle used by an official establishment under state inspection for transporting dressed carcasses and poultry intended for human consumption, parts thereof, meats or meat products, inspected and marked in accordance with this Chapter shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition and shall be regularly inspected by inspectors stationed at the establishment in accordance with the regulations of the Board conducting the inspection of such establishments.

(a) No official establishment shall be constructed, altered, renovated or added to unless suitable plans for such construction, alteration, renovation or addition have been submitted to the Board and a written approval has been obtained from the Board prior to beginning such construction, alteration, renovation or addition.

(b) No livestock or poultry carcasses or parts thereof, meat food product or poultry products shall be admitted into any official establishment unless they have been prepared under the inspection pursuant to this Chapter or the Federal Meat Inspection Act or the Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act, or their admission is permitted by rules or regulations prescribed by the Board under this Chapter.

(c) The Chief Inspector shall refuse to approve inspection to any establishment whose premises, facilities, or equipment, or

the operation thereof, fail to meet the requirements of this section.

§ 8709. Labeling and marking

(a) Each shipping container of any meat, meat food product, or poultry product inspected under the authority of this Chapter and found to be wholesome and not adulterated, shall at the time such product leaves the official establishment bear, in distinctly legible form, the official inspection mark and the approved plant number of the official establishment in which contents were processed. Each immediate container of any meat, meat fobd product or poultry product inspected under the authority of this Chapter and found to be wholesome and not adulterated, shall at the time such product leaves the official establishment bear, in addition to the official inspection mark, in distinctly legible form, the name of the product, a statement of ingredients if fabricated from two or more ingredients, including a declaration as to artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives, if any, the net weight or other appropriate measure of the contents, the name and addrese of the processor and the approved plant number of the official establishment in which the contents were processed. The name and address of the distributor may be used in lieu of the name and address of the processor if the approved plant number is used to identify the official establishment in which the article was prepared and packed. Each livestock carcass and each primal part of such a carcass shall bear the official inspection mark and approved plant number of the establishment when it leaves the official establishment. The Board may by rules or regulations require additional marks or label information to appear on livestock or poultry carcasses or parts thereof, meat food products or poultry products when they leave the official establishments or at the time of their transportation or sale in this State, and the Chief Inspector may permit reasonable variations and grant exemptions from the marking and labeling requirements of this subsection in any manner not in conflict with the purposes of this Chapter. Official inspection marks and labels required under this subsection shall be applied only by, or under the supervision of, an inspector.

(b) The use of any written, printed or graphic matter upon or accompanying any livestock or poultry carcass, or part there-

of, meat food product, or poultry product inspected or required to be inspected pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter or the container thereof, which is false or misleading in any particular is prohibited. No livestock or poultry carcasses or parts thereof, meat food products, or poultry products inspected or required to be inspected pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter shall be sold or offered for sale by any person under any false or deceptive name ; but established trade names which are usual to such articles and which are not false or deceptive and which shall be approved by the Chief Inspector are permitted. Proposed labels shall be submitted by any official establishment to the Board for approval prior to printing and again prior to use. If the Chief Inspector has reason to believe that any label in use or prepared for use is false or misleading in any particular, he may direct that the use of the label be withheld unless it is modified in such manner as he may prescribe so that it will not be false or misleading. If the person using or proposing to use the label does not accept the determination of the Chief Inspector, he may request a hearing by the Board, but the use of the label shall, if the Chief Inspector so directs, be withheld pending hearing and final determination by the Board.

(c) Each carcass or part thereof which is found on postmortem inspection to be unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food, shall be marked conspicuously by the inspector at the time of inspection with the words, "Delaware inspected and condemned."

SUBCHAPTER III. LICENSING

§ 8711. License for operating official establishments

No person shall operate and maintain an official establishment within this State without first having received a license from the Board.

§ 8712. Applications for license

Persons desiring a license to operate and maintain an official establishment shall make application in duplicate upon forms which may be secured from the Board. The application shall contain the name and address of the applicant, the location of

the official establishment and such other pertinent information as shall be prescribed by the Board in pursuance of the provisions of this Chapter.

§ 8713.. License fee; issuance and term of license

(a) The application shall be accompanied by a fee of $10. Upon receipt of the application and fee the Board shall inspect the official establishment, and upon a finding that the official establishment is capable of being operated in a sanitary and satisfactory manner, shall issue a license.

(b) The license shall be for the fiscal year ending June 30th, unless sooner revoked as provided in this Chapter, and it shall be renewable annually thereafter.

(c) The license fee shall be payable to the State Treasurer. § 8714. Form and display of license

All licenses granted shall be numbered and describe the location of the official establishment, and shall be displayed in a conspicuous place on the premises so covered.

§ 8715. Denial or revocation of license; grounds

A license may be denied at the time of the application or revoked after its issuance if the official establishment of the applicant is in an unsanitary condition, or becomes so thereafter, or if the establishment of the applicant fails to provide for the removal of its filth or other refuse in a sanitary manner or in a manner not creating a noisome or obnoxious condition, or if the establishment violates any other rules or regulations laid clown by the Board.

§ 8716. Revocation of licenses; duration and effect

(a) The Board may revoke any license issued under the provisions of this Chapter whenever it determines that any provisions of this Chapter have been violated.

(b) Any person whose license has been revoked shall discontinue the operation of an official establishment within this State until the provisions of this Chapter have been complied with and a new license issued.

(c) The Board may suspend a license temporarily until there is a compliance with such conditions as it may prescribe, or permanently for the unexpired period of such license.

SUBCHAPTER IV. EXCEPTIONS

§ 8720. Conflict with federal law

(a) This Chapter shall not apply to any act or transaction subject to regulation under the Federal Meat Inspection Act or the Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act.

(b) The Board may cooperate with the Federal Government and the several state governments in carrying out the provisions of this Chapter or the Federal Meat Inspection Act or the Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act. Such cooperation may include application and use of federal funds where applicable to assisting in carrying out the rules and regulations as set forth in this Chapter.

§ 8721. Exemptions

(a) The Board shall, by regulation and under such conditions as to labeling, and sanitary standards, practices, and procedures as it may prescribe, exempt from specific provisions of this Chapter :

(1) livestock producers and poultry producers with respect to livestock and poultry carcasses and parts thereof, meat food products, and poultry products, processed by them from livestock or poultry of their own raising or finishing on their own farms, incidental to their farming, which they sell at their farm directly to household consumers : Provided, That such livestock producers do not engage in the business of buying or selling livestock carcasses or parts thereof, or meat food products, other than those produced from livestock raised or finished on their own farms and such poultry producers do not engage in the business of buying or selling poultry carcasses or parts thereof, or poultry products other than those produced from poultry raised on their own farms ;

(2) retail dealers with respect to meat and meat food products previously inspected pursuant to this Chapter and sold directly to consumers without further processing in individual

retail stores ; and retail dealers with respect to poultry products previously inspected pursuant to this Chapter and sold directly to consumers in individual retail stores, if the only processing operation performed by such retail dealers with respect to poultry is the cutting up of poultry products on the premises where such sales to consumers are made ;

(3) any person engaged in slaughtering livestock or poultry or processing livestock or poultry carcasses or parts thereof, meat food products, or poultry products for intrastate commerce, and the articles so processed by such person, whenever the Chief Inspector determines that it would be impracticable to provide inspection and the exemption will aid in the effective administration of this Chapter ;

(4) persons slaughtering livestock or poultry or otherwise processing or handling livestock or poultry carcasses or parts thereof, meat food products, or poultry products, which have been or are to be processed as required by recognized religious dietary laws, to the extent that the Chief Inspector determines is necessary to avoid conflict with such requirements while still effectuating the purposes of this Chapter ;

the transportation of dead and condemned carcasses of animals to rendering plants.

(b) The Board may by order suspend or terminate any exemption under this section with respect to any person whenever he finds that such action will aid in effectuating the purposes of this Chapter.

SUBCHAPTER V. ENFORCEMENT

§ 8724. Regulations

The Board shall promulgate such rules and regulations and appoint such veterinarians and other qualified personnel as are necessary to carry out the purposes or provisions of this Chapter. Such rules and regulations shall be in conformity with the rules and regulations under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act as now in effect and with subsequent amendments thereof unless they are considered by the Board as not to be in accord with the objectives of this Chapter.

§ 8725. Keeping records

For the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this Chapter, persons engaged in this State in the business of processing for intrastate commerce or transporting, shipping or receiving in such commerce livestock or poultry slaughtered for human consumption, or meat, meat food products or poultry products, or holding such articles so received, shall maintain such records as the Board by regulation may require, showing, to the extent that they are concerned therewith, the receipt, delivery, sale, movement, or disposition of such articles and shall, upon the request of a duly authorized representative of the Board, permit, at reasonable times, access to and the copying of all such records. Any record required to be maintained by this section shall oe maintained for a period of 2 years after the transaction, which is the subject of such record, has taken place.

§ 8726. Prohibited acts

The following acts or the causing thereof within this State are prohibited:

(a) The processing for, or the sale or offering for sale, transportation, or delivery or receiving for transportation, in intrastate commerce, of any livestock carcass or part thereof, meat food product, or poultry product, unless such article has been inspected for wholesomeness and unless the article and its shipping container and immediate container, if any, are marked in accordance with the requirements under this Chapter or the Federal Meat Inspection Act or the Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act.

(b) The processing for, or the sale or offering for sale, transportation, or delivering or receiving for transportation, in intrastate commerce, of any meat, poultry or products thereof, sausage casings or other casings that contain artificial coloring. Casings shall not have an amber or smoked color of such shade, degree or intensity as to give a false impression with respect to smoking or degree of smoking of the meat or poultry.

() The sale or other disposition for human food of any livestock or poultry carcass or part thereof, meat food product, or poultry product which has been inspected and declared to be

unwholesome or adulterated under this Chapter.

(d) Falsely making or issuing, altering, forging, simulating, or counterfeiting, or using without proper authority any official inspection certificate, memorandum, mark, or other identification, or device for making such mark or identification, used in connection with inspection under this Chapter, or causing, procuring, aiding, assisting in, or being a party to, such false making, issuing, altering, forging, simulating, counterfeiting, or unauthorized use, or knowingly possessing, without promptly notifying the Chief Inspector or his representative, uttering, publishing or using as true, or causing to be uttered, published, or used as true, any such falsely made or issued, altered, forged, simulated, or counterfeited official inspection certificate, memorandum, mark, or other identification, or device for making such mark or identification, or representing that any article has been officially inspected under the authority of this Chapter when such article has in fact not been so inspected, or knowingly making any false representation in any certificate prescribed by the Board in rules or regulations under this Chapter or any form resembling any such certificate.

(e) Using in intrastate commerce a false or misleading label on any livestock or poultry carcass or part thereof, meat food product, or poultry product.

(f) The use of any container bearing an official inspection mark except for the article in the original form in which it was inspected and covered by such mark unless the mark is removed, obliterated, or otherwise destroyed.

(g) The refusal to permit access by any duly authorized representative of the Board, at all reasonable times, to the premises of an establishment in this State at which livestock or poultry are slaughtered or the carcasses or parts thereof, meat food products, or poultry products are processed for intrastate commerce, upon presentation of appropriate credentials.

(h) The refusal to permit access to and the copying of any record as authorized by Section 8725 of this title.

() The using by any petson to his own advantage, or revealing, other than to the authorized representatives of any government agency in their official capacity, or to the courts

when relevant in any judicial proceeding, any information acquired under the authority of this Chapter, concerning any matter which as a trade secret is entitled to protection.

(j) Delivering, receiving, transporting, selling, or offering for sale or transportation in intrastate commerce, for human consumption, any uneviscerated slaughtered poultry, or any livestock or poultry carcass or part thereof, meat food product or poultry product which has been processed in violation of any requirements under this Chapter, except as may be authorized by and pursuant to rules and regulations prescribed by the Board.

(j) Delivering, receiving, transporting, selling or offering for sale or transportation in intrastate commerce any livestock or poultry carcass or part thereof, meat food product, or poultry product which is exempted under this title and is unwholesome or adulterated, and is intended for human consumption.

(1) Delivering, receiving, transporting, selling or offering for sale or transportation in intrastate commerce, horse, mule, stillborn calf or burro meats shall be unlawful in this State, if intended for human consumption.

(m) Applying to any livestock or poultry carcass or part thereof, meat food product, or poultry product, or any container thereof, any official inspection mark or label required under this Chapter, except by, or under the supervision of, an inspector.

(n) The slaughtering of horses, mules, or burros in establishments coming under the jurisdiction of this Chapter where cattle, calves, sheep, swine and poultry are slaughtered for human consumption, or to bring horse meat into establishments where meat or poultry or products thereof are prepared for human consumption.

The adding of horse meat to meat, or products thereof, for human consumption in official establishments coming within the jurisdiction of this Chapter, and the Chief Inspector may seize and destroy for food purposes any such meat or products thereof, wherever found, to which horse meat has been added.

§ 8727. Penalties; jurisdiction

(a) Any person who violates any of the provisions of this Chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall on conviction thereof be subject to imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or a fine of not more than $3,000 or both.

(b) When construing or enforcing the provisions of this Chapter, the act, omission, or failure of any person acting for or employed by any person, within the scope of his employment or office, shall in every case be deemed the act, omission, or failure of such employer, as well as of such person committing the act.

(c) No carrier or warehouseman shall be subject to the penalties of this Chapter, other than the penalties for violation of Section 8725 of this title, by reason of his receipt, carriage, holding, or delivery, in the usual course of business, as a carrier or warehouseman, of livestock or poultry carcasses, parts thereof, meat food products, or poultry products, owned by another person, unless the carrier or warehouseman has knowledge, or is in possession of facts which would cause a reasonable person to believe, that such articles were not inspected or marked in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter or were not otherwise in compliance with this Chapter.

§ 8728. Reporting of violations

Before any violation of this Chapter is reported by the Chief Inspector to the Attorney General for institution of a criminal proceeding, the person against whom such proceeding is contemplated shall be given reasonable notice of the alleged violation and opportunity to present his views orally or in writing with regard to such contemplated proceeding. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed as requiring the Chief Inspector to report for criminal prosecution violations of this Chapter whenever he believes that the public interest will be adequately served and compliance with the Chapter obtained by a suitable written notice or warning.

§ 8729. Denial of inspection

The Board may withdraw or otherwise deny inspection under this Chapter with respect to any establishment, for such

period as he deems necessary to effectuate the purpose of this Chapter, for any violation of the Chapter or any requirements thereunder by the operator of such establishment.

SUBCHAPTER VI. HEARINGS AND APPEALS § 8730. Hearings; notice; records

(a) Before refusing an application for licensing as an official establishment and in other cases where a person deems himself aggrieved by any action or ruling of the Chief Inspector, the Board shall hold a hearing at which time, the applicant or aggrieved party shall be afforded an opportunity to be heard after reasonable notice.

(b) The notice shall include a statement of the time, place and nature of the hearing.

(c) Opportunity shall be afforded the applicant or aggrieved party to respond and present evidence and argument on the issues involved.

(d) The record in the case shall include:

(1) All pleadings, motions, intermediate rulings;

(2) Evidence received or considered;

(3) A statement of matters officially noticed;

(4) Questions and offers of proof, objections, and rulings thereon;

(5) Proposed findings and exceptions;

(6) Any decision, opinion, or report by the officer presiding at the hearing; and

(7) All staff memoranda or data submitted to the hearing officer or members of the agency in connection with their consideration of the case.

(e) Oral proceedings or any part thereof shall be transcribed on request of any party.

(f) Finding of fact shall be based exclusively on the evidence and on matters officially noticed.

(g) The Board shall notify the applicant or aggrieved party in writing of its decision and reasons therefor.

§ 8731. Appeals

(a) Any person who deems himself aggrieved by any final action of the Board may appeal such decision to the Superior Court of the State of Delaware by filing a petition for appeal with such court within 20 days after the mailing of the notice of the decision of the Board.

(b) The Court may grant a stay of any order pending a determination of the appeal upon appropriate terms.

Section 2. Chapter 37, Title 16, Delaware Code, relating to Poultry Processing, is repealed.

Section 3. The sum of $52,660.00 is appropriated to the State Board of Agriculture for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1968. The sums so appropriated may be used prior to the enforcement of the regulatory provisions of this Act for employment and training of personnel and the purchase of equipment and supplies.

Section 4. The funds appropriated under Section 3 of this Act shall immediately be available to the Board on the date on which the Act is signed by the Governor, while the other provisions of this Act shall take effect six months after the date on which it is signed by the Governor; provided, however, that where, upon the initial inspection by the Inspector pursuant to this Chapter, an official establishment if found to fail to meet the standards of § 8708 of Section 1 of this Act, the owner of such official establishment shall be given 6 months to comply with said standards, and for good cause shown may be granted an additional six month period to comply with such standards.

Section 5. This Act is a supplementary appropriation and the money shall be paid by the State Treasurer out of funds in the General Fund of the State of Delaware, not otherwise appropriated.

Approved December 28, 1967.