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Fabio 76b8ec33a7 Legal corpus: the complete U.S. Code (59,740 sections, all 53 titles)
Ingested titles 12–51 and 54 from OLRC USLM XML @119-100 (the whole Code
now, uniform edition; Title 53 is reserved/empty). LegalText 11,221 ->
59,740; repo total 105,704 records. Deterministic (byte-identical rerun,
verified on Title 42's 8,356 sections); make check green. make
legal-us-code default now covers every title.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-06 10:51:44 -04:00

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---
type: "LegalText"
title: "21 U.S.C. § 604"
description: "Post mortem examination of carcasses and marking or labeling; destruction of carcasses condemned; reinspection"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 21
title_name: "FOOD AND DRUGS"
chapter_number: "12"
chapter_name: "MEAT INSPECTION"
section: "604"
citation: "21 U.S.C. § 604"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc21@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t21/s604"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-21/usc21.xml"
source_hash: "c3dd44da510e233e61113293e75d3fa03d34954cec9e6d09fd443c2d86d98159"
raw_snapshot_hash: "3dbd7a61c8616baefb8459bd8dac3b93242106deb416308c8d4dd5a9143176d1"
text_hash: "89a0d3cff0776ea3cebb3d306f7bd3e006a9026849ed533e311aadb415304094"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---
# 21 U.S.C. § 604 - Post mortem examination of carcasses and marking or labeling; destruction of carcasses condemned; reinspection
## Text
For the purposes hereinbefore set forth the Secretary shall cause to be made by inspectors appointed for that purpose a post mortem examination and inspection of the carcasses and parts thereof of all amenable species to be prepared at any slaughtering, meat-canning, salting, packing, rendering, or similar establishment in any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia as articles of commerce which are capable of use as human food; and the carcasses and parts thereof of all such animals found to be not adulterated shall be marked, stamped, tagged, or labeled as “Inspected and passed”; and said inspectors shall label, mark, stamp, or tag as “Inspected and condemned” all carcasses and parts thereof of animals found to be adulterated; and all carcasses and parts thereof thus inspected and condemned shall be destroyed for food purposes by the said establishment in the presence of an inspector, and the Secretary may remove inspectors from any such establishment which fails to so destroy any such condemned carcass or part thereof, and said inspectors, after said first inspection, shall, when they deem it necessary, reinspect said carcasses or parts thereof to determine whether since the first inspection the same have become adulterated, and if any carcass or any part thereof shall, upon examination and inspection subsequent to the first examination and inspection, be found to be adulterated, it shall be destroyed for food purposes by the said establishment in the presence of an inspector, and the Secretary may remove inspectors from any establishment which fails to so destroy any such condemned carcass or part thereof.
(Mar. 4, 1907, ch. 2907, title I, § 4, formerly 2nd par., 34 Stat. 1260; renumbered § 4 and amended Pub. L. 90201, §§ 1, 3, 4, 12(a)(d), Dec. 15, 1967, 81 Stat. 584, 588, 592; Pub. L. 10997, title VII, § 798[(a)](1), Nov. 10, 2005, 119 Stat. 2166.)
## Notes
Editorial Notes
Codification Section was formerly classified to section 72 of this title.
Amendments2005—Pub. L. 10997 substituted “amenable species” for “cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, and other equines”. 1967—Pub. L. 90201, §§ 3, 4, 12(a)(d), struck out “interstate or foreign” before “commerce” and “of Agriculture” after “Secretary” in three places; struck out “for human consumption” before “at any slaughtering” and “for transportation or sale” after “District of Columbia” and inserted “which are capable of use as human food” after “commerce”; included horses, mules, and other equines in the list of animals; substituted “adulterated” for “unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food” after “ Inspected and condemned, all carcasses and parts thereof of animals found to be” and before “, it shall be destroyed”; substituted “not adulterated” for “sound, healthful, wholesome, and fit for human food”; and substituted “adulterated” for “unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or in any way unfit for human food” before “and if any carcass”, respectively.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 2005 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 10997 effective the day after 120 days after Nov. 10, 2005, see section 798(b) of Pub. L. 10997, set out as a note under section 601 of this title.
Effective Date of 1967 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 90201 effective Dec. 15, 1967, except that with respect to equines (other than horses) and their carcasses and parts thereof, meat, and meat food products thereof, amendment effective upon expiration of sixty days after Dec. 15, 1967, see section 20(b) of Pub. L. 90201, set out as an Effective Date note under section 601 of this title.