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92nd General Assembly

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Public Act 92-0677

HB4890 Enrolled                                LRB9213810DHmg

    AN ACT concerning farm products.

    Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:

    Section  5.   The  Illinois  Egg  and Egg Products Act is
amended by changing Sections 6, 8, 10, and 15 as follows:

    (410 ILCS 615/6) (from Ch. 56 1/2, par. 55-6)
    Sec. 6.  Candling; labeling; sales by  producers;  retail
sales;  temperature requirements.  All eggs sold at retail or
purchased by institutional  consumers  must  be  candled  for
quality and graded for size.
    A  producer  may sell, direct to a household consumer for
that consumer's personal use and that  consumer's  non-paying
guests,  eggs  produced  by  a  producer's  own birds without
candling or grading the eggs.
    A producer may sell on his own premises  where  eggs  are
produced,  direct  to household consumers, for the consumer's
personal use and that consumer's non-paying guests, nest  run
eggs  classified  as  checks  and dirties without candling or
grading those eggs.
    All eggs designated for sale off the premises  where  the
flock  is located, such as at farmers' markets, and at retail
or for institutional use must be candled and graded and  held
in a place or room in which the temperature may not exceed 45
degrees  Fahrenheit after processing.  Nest run eggs shall be
held at 60 degrees Fahrenheit or less at  all  times.  During
transportation, the egg temperature may not exceed 45 degrees
Fahrenheit.
    Hatcheries   buying   eggs  for  hatching  purposes  from
producers under contract may sell their  surplus  eggs  to  a
licensed  packer  or handler provided that the hatchery shall
keep records which indicate the number  of  cases  sold,  the
date  of  sale  and  the  name  and  address of the packer or
handler making the purchase.
    All eggs candled or candled and graded outside the  State
must  meet  Federal  standards  before  they  can  be sold or
offered for sale in the State.  No eggs may  be  offered  for
sale  for  consumer  use  after  the original 30-day candling
date.  All  eggs  candled  or  candled  and  graded  must  be
recandled and regraded if not sold at retail within  30  days
of the original candling date.
    Each  container  of  eggs  offered  for  sale  or sold at
wholesale or retail must be labeled in  accordance  with  the
standards  established by the Department showing grade, size,
packer identification, and candling packing date, and may  be
labeled with an expiration date, or other similar language as
specified  by  USDA standards, that is not later than 30 days
from after the candling packing date for grade A eggs and not
later than 15 days after the candling date for grade AA eggs.
The date of candling and an expiration date not later than 30
days after the date of packing must appear  in  lettering  on
the  container  in  which the eggs are offered for sale. Eggs
identified as grade AA shall  have  an  expiration  date  not
later than 15 days after the date of packing.
    The  grade  and size of eggs must be conspicuously marked
in bold  face type on all consumer-size containers.
    The size and height of lettering or numbering requirement
shall be set by regulation  and  shall  conform  as  near  as
possible to those required by Federal law.
    All  advertising  of  shell eggs for sale at retail for a
stated price shall contain the grade and size  of  the  eggs.
The  information  contained  in such advertising shall not be
misleading or  deceptive.  In  cases  of  food-borne  disease
outbreaks  in  which eggs are identified as the source of the
disease,  all  eggs  from  the  flocks   from   which   those
disease-causing eggs came shall be identified with a producer
identification  or  flock code number to control the movement
of those eggs.
(Source: P.A. 89-154, eff. 7-19-95.)

    (410 ILCS 615/8) (from Ch. 56 1/2, par. 55-8)
    Sec. 8.  Any person or business who buys, sells,  trades,
or   traffics  in  eggs  in  this  State  and  is  a  broker,
distributor, handler, packer, producer,  or  producer-dealer,
as  defined  in  this  Act, must be licensed in this State. A
limited or full license must be purchased annually. No person
or business shall buy, sell, trade, or traffic in barter eggs
in this State without having obtained a license  as  provided
in Section 9, except the following:
    (a)  A  producer  who  obtains  eggs  from his own flock,
regardless of the size of the flock, and sells them  as  nest
run eggs, either to household consumers on the premises where
the  flock  is  located,  or  to a holder of an  Illinois Egg
License;
    (b)  Hatcheries  which   purchase   eggs   to   be   used
exclusively for hatching purposes;
    (c)  Institutional consumers where all eggs purchased are
served in the establishment;
    (d)  Manufacturers  of  food  products  who  use all eggs
purchased   in   their    products    such    as    bakeries,
confectioneries, and ice cream manufacturers, etc.;
    (e)  Agents  employed  and  carried  on  the payroll on a
salary  basis by licensed dealers or distributors;
    (f)  A consumer buying eggs for his own consumption;
    (g)  A retailer who buys eggs from licensed  distributors
or from licensed handlers only and sells eggs only at retail.
(Source: P.A. 89-154, eff. 7-19-95.)

    (410 ILCS 615/10) (from Ch. 56 1/2, par. 55-10)
    Sec.  10.  Inspection  fee.   The  Director shall set, by
regulation, a per case inspection fee which shall  cover  the
administrative  and  inspection costs of the program required
by the Act.  In no case shall the rate exceed 6¢ per each  30
dozen eggs or fraction thereof.
    The  inspection  fee  as  set  shall be imposed upon eggs
bearing a designated size and grade sold or offered for  sale
in  Illinois.   The  first handler in Illinois who packed and
sold the eggs must pay the prescribed inspection fee on those
eggs. If eggs are shipped  into  Illinois,  the  handler  who
invoiced the eggs to Illinois must pay the fee. The fee shall
be  paid by the handler at the point of candling and grading.
When the handler sells the eggs, the inspection fee shall  be
charged  in  addition to the sale price of the eggs and shall
be remitted to  the  seller  by  the  purchaser.  Each  sales
invoice  shall  indicate the amount of inspection fee for the
transaction.   Eggs sold and shipped  out  of  the  State  of
Illinois  by  Illinois packers are exempt from the inspection
fee.
    The inspection fee shall be paid only once  on  the  same
quantity  of  eggs  so  long  as  those  eggs  maintain their
identity by remaining  in  their  original  case,  carton  or
package.   All   inspection  fees  shall  be  paid  into  the
"Agricultural Master Fund" to the credit of a special account
designated as the  "Auxiliary  Egg  Inspection  Fund".    All
amounts credited to the "Auxiliary Egg Inspection Fund" shall
be  used  for  the enforcement of the provisions of this Act.
The method  and  manner  of  collecting  the  inspection  fee
levied, whether it be by the use of stamps, monthly reporting
and  collecting  from  dealers  or  any other method shall be
prescribed by the Director of Agriculture, pursuant to  rules
and  regulations adopted for this purpose as authorized under
the provisions of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 89-154, eff. 7-19-95.)
    (410 ILCS 615/15) (from Ch. 56 1/2, par. 55-15)
    Sec. 15.  Samples; packing methods.  The Department shall
prescribe  methods  in  conformity  with  the  United  States
Department  of  Agriculture  specifications   for   selecting
samples  of lots, cases or containers of eggs or egg products
which  shall  be  reasonably  calculated  to   produce   fair
representations  of  the  entire lots or cases and containers
sampled. Any sample taken shall be prima  facie  evidence  in
any  court  in this State of the true condition of the entire
lot, case or  container  of  eggs  or  egg  products  in  the
examination of which the sample was taken.
    It  shall be unlawful for any handler or retailer to pack
eggs into consumer-size  containers  other  than  during  the
original candling and grading operations unless:
    (a)  The  loose  eggs  to be so transferred are in master
case stamped no more than 5 days previous indicating that the
size and quality have been verified.
    (b)  The process of transferring is done  in  a  licensed
establishment.
    (c)  (Blank).
    (d)  The  loose eggs to be transferred are reprocessed in
the same manner as nest-run eggs and each  egg  is  recandled
for  quality  and  regraded  for  size  in  an  establishment
recognized as a competent grading facility by the Director or
his authorized representative.
    (e)  (Blank) The retail location shall be granted written
permission to repack eggs and shall comply with the following
requirements:
         (1)  A retailer shall only repackage clean and sound
    shell   eggs   which  originated  from  properly  labeled
    consumer-size containers that have been damaged or  their
    contents  damaged.   The  repacked  eggs  shall meet U.S.
    Department of Agriculture standards for consumer Grade  B
    eggs.  Eggs in the repacked consumer-size container shall
    be  no less than medium in size.  It shall be unlawful to
    repackage eggs that  do  not  meet  the  requirements  of
    Section 6 of this Act.
         (2)  The  consumer-size  egg container that contains
    eggs that have been repacked  shall  be  labeled  with  a
    statement  declaring  that the eggs in the container were
    repackaged by the retail  store  offering  the  eggs  for
    sale,  the  name  of  the retail store, its location, the
    date the eggs were repacked and the oldest candling  date
    which  appeared  on  the  consumer-size  egg container or
    containers from which  the  repackaged  eggs  originated.
    The repackaged egg container shall also be labeled "Grade
    B  Medium"  and contain a statement indicating that "some
    of the eggs may be larger than indicated on the carton".
         (3)  The labeling  on  the  consumer-size  container
    used  for  the  repackaged  eggs  shall meet the type and
    lettering size requirements as required on  the  original
    consumer-size   containers.    The   additional  labeling
    information required on repacked egg containers shall  be
    in bold face type with lettering no less than 1/8 inch in
    height.
         (4)  The  Department  shall grant written permission
    to repackage eggs at the retail level when an application
    is made by a retailer.
    If procedures described in paragraph (a) or (b)  of  this
Section  are  executed, the mandatory  labeling as it appears
on the master cases with respect  to  name,  address,  grade,
size  and  candling date must be identical to the labeling on
the  consumer-size  containers  into  which  the   eggs   are
transferred  except that the name and address may be changed,
provided that the words "packed for",  "packed by"  or  words
of similar import do not appear.
(Source: P.A. 89-154, eff. 7-19-95.)
    Section  99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.
    Passed in the General Assembly May 07, 2002.
    Approved July 16, 2002.
    Effective July 16, 2002.

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