§ 106-549.17.  Inspection of animals before slaughter; humane methods of slaughtering.

(a) For the purpose of preventing the use in intrastate commerce, as hereinafter provided, of meat and meat food products which are adulterated, the Commissioner shall cause to be made, by inspectors appointed for that purpose, an examination and inspection of all cattle, sheep, swine, goats, fallow deer, red deer, bison, horses, mules, and other equines before they shall be allowed to enter into any slaughtering, packing, meat-canning, rendering, or similar establishment in this State in which slaughtering and preparation of meat and meat food products of such animals are conducted for intrastate commerce; and all cattle, sheep, swine, goats, fallow deer, red deer, bison, horses, mules, and other equines found on such inspection to show symptoms of disease shall be set apart and slaughtered separately from all other cattle, sheep, swine, goats, fallow deer, red deer, bison, horses, mules, or other equines, and when so slaughtered, the carcasses of said cattle, sheep, swine, goats, fallow deer, red deer, bison, horses, mules, or other equines shall be subject to a careful examination and inspection, all as provided by the rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Board as herein provided for.

(b) For the purpose of preventing the inhumane slaughtering of livestock, the Commissioner shall cause to be made, by inspectors appointed for that purpose, an examination and inspection of the method by which cattle, sheep, swine, goats, fallow deer, red deer, bison, horses, mules, and other equines are slaughtered and handled in connection with slaughter in the slaughtering establishments inspected under this law. The Commissioner may refuse to provide inspection to a new slaughtering establishment or may cause inspection to be temporarily suspended at a slaughtering establishment if the Commissioner finds that any cattle, sheep, swine, goats, fallow deer, red deer, bison, horses, mules, or other equines have been slaughtered or handled in connection with slaughter at such establishment by any method not in accordance with subsection (c) of this section until the establishment furnishes assurances satisfactory to the Commissioner that all slaughtering and handling in connection with slaughter of livestock shall be in accordance with such a method.

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

(1) In the case of cattle, calves, fallow deer, red deer, bison, horses, mules, sheep, swine, and other livestock, all animals are rendered 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 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 and handling in connection with such slaughtering. (1969, c. 893, s. 3; 1981, c. 376, s. 1; 1991, c. 317, s. 6; 1995, c. 194, s. 3; 1997-142, s. 6.)