§159-21 Ante-mortem inspection. (a) For the purpose of preventing the use in intrastate commerce of meat or meat products which are adulterated, the board shall cause to be made, by a veterinarian or inspector appointed for that purpose, an examination and inspection of all animals before they shall be allowed to enter into any slaughtering, packing, meat-canning, rendering, or similar establishment in the State in which slaughtering and preparation of meat or meat products of the animals are conducted solely for intrastate commerce; and all animals found on the inspection to show symptoms of disease shall be set apart from all other animals and slaughtered or otherwise disposed of as provided in the rules and regulations, and when slaughtered, the carcasses of the animals shall be subject to a careful examination and inspection, all as prescribed by the board.

(b) For the purpose of preventing the inhumane slaughtering of animals, the board shall cause to be made, by inspectors appointed for that purpose, an examination and inspection of the method by which the animals are slaughtered and handled in connection with slaughter in the slaughtering establishments inspected under this chapter. The board may refuse to provide inspection to a new slaughtering establishment or may cause inspection to be temporarily suspended at a slaughtering establishment, if the board finds that any animal has been slaughtered or handled in connection with slaughter at such establishment by any method not in accordance with subsection (c), until the establishment furnishes assurances satisfactory to the board that all slaughtering and handling in connection with slaughter of animals is in accordance with a method specified in subsection (c).

(c) Either of the following two methods of slaughtering of animals and handling in connection with slaughter are found to be humane:

(1) By rendering the animal insensible to pain by a single blow or gunshot or an electrical, chemical, or other means that is rapid and effective, before being shackled, hoisted, thrown, cast, or cut; or

(2) By slaughtering or handling in connection with slaughtering in accordance with the ritual requirements of the Jewish faith or any other religious faith that prescribes a method of slaughter whereby the animal suffers loss of consciousness by anemia of the brain caused by the simultaneous and instantaneous severance of the carotid arteries with a sharp instrument.

(d) For the purposes of this section "animals" means cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or other equines. [L 1969, c 214, pt of §1; am L 1980, c 178, §1]