Whenever the director of agriculture finds or has reasonable cause to believe that any horse carcass, horse meat, or any horse meat food product, being sold or exposed for sale at retail for human consumption, is unfit for human food, is misbranded, or is unbranded, or that any horse meat food product is adulterated, within the meaning of this chapter or rules adopted pursuant thereto, he shall affix to the product a detention tag giving notice that the carcass, meat, or product is, or is suspected of being, unfit for human food, or is misbranded, unbranded, or adulterated, and has been detained. The detention tag shall warn all persons not to dispose of the carcass, meat, or product in any manner or to remove the carcass, meat, or product from the premises where detained until permission is given to do so in writing by the director or by court order. If the detained carcass, meat, or product is found, after examination and analysis by the director, to be unfit for human food or to be misbranded, unbranded, or adulterated, the director shall petition the judge of any court having jurisdiction for an order for condemnation. If the director finds upon examination and analysis that the detained article is fit for human food, is not misbranded, or is not adulterated, he shall remove the detention tag. If the court finds that the detained carcass, meat, or product is unfit for human food, or is misbranded or adulterated, the carcass, meat, or product, after entry of the decree, shall be destroyed under supervision of the director at the expense of the defendant, and all court costs and fees, storage, transportation, handling, and other expenses in connection with the proceedings shall be levied against the defendant or his agent. When the misbranding, absence of branding, or adulteration can be corrected by proper processing, labeling, or branding, by processing any horse carcass or horse meat, or by reprocessing any horse meat food product, which is unfit for human consumption, into feed for animals other than man, tankage, fertilizers, soap, or other nonedible commodities, the court, after entry of the decree and payment of the costs, fees, and expenses, and the posting of a sufficient bond guaranteeing that the detained product shall be so processed, reprocessed, labeled, or branded, may order that custody of the detained carcass, meat, or product be delivered to the defendant for such reprocessing, labeling, or branding, under supervision of the director. The expense of such supervision shall be paid by the defendant. The bond shall be returned to the defendant on representation to the court by the director that the carcass, meat, or product involved is no longer in violation of this chapter or rules adopted pursuant thereto, and that all expenses incidental to the action have been paid by the defendant.

Effective Date: 06-20-1994