ORS Chapter 628
Chapter 628 — RefrigeratedLocker Plants
2009 EDITION
REFRIGERATEDLOCKER PLANTS
FOODAND OTHER COMMODITIES
628.210 Definitionsfor ORS 628.210 to 628.370
628.220 Licenserequired for locker plant business
628.230 Applicationfor and issuance of license; rules
628.240 Licensefees; disposition
628.250 Refusal,revocation or suspension of licenses
628.260 Furnishingcopies of law to applicants for licenses; posting copy
628.270 Prohibitionagainst employees with communicable disease in plant; health certificate; rules
628.280 Inspectionof plants; maintenance in sanitary condition
628.290 Sanitaryand safety requirements
628.300 Maintaininguniform temperatures; records
628.310 Useof nontoxic marking
628.320 Inspectionof food; storage outside lockers
628.330 Freshmeats, identification and chilling
628.340 Fishand wild game
628.350 Rulesand regulations
628.360 Ownersand operators of locker plants not warehousemen
628.370 Jurisdictionand prosecution of violations of ORS 628.210 to 628.370
628.990 Criminalpenalties
628.995 Civilpenalties; rules; hearing; disposition of moneys
628.010 [Repealed by1953 c.114 §2]
628.020 [Repealed by1953 c.114 §2]
628.030 [Repealed by1953 c.114 §2]
628.040 [Repealed by1953 c.114 §2]
628.050 [Repealed by1953 c.114 §2]
628.060 [Repealed by1953 c.114 §2]
628.070 [Repealed by1953 c.114 §2]
628.080 [Repealed by1953 c.114 §2]
628.210Definitions for ORS 628.210 to 628.370. As used in ORS 628.210 to 628.370,unless the context requires otherwise:
(1)“Clean,” “healthful” and “sanitary” mean free of flies and other insects,rodents, dusts, dirt, decomposed material, mold, odors or any condition whichwould in any way contaminate the food products stored.
(2)“Department” means the State Department of Agriculture.
(3)“Person” includes any individual, partnership, corporation, association,cooperative association, county, municipality or other entity engaging in thebusiness of operating or owning a refrigerated locker plant or offering theservices thereof, as described in subsections (4) and (5) of this section.
(4)“Refrigerated locker” or “locker” means a separate, individual compartment in arefrigerated locker plant, wherein food may be placed and kept in frozen foodstorage.
(5)“Refrigerated locker plant” or “locker plant” means any place, premises orestablishment in which separate and individual compartments for the frozen foodstorage and preservation of food for human consumption are offered to thepublic upon a rental or other basis providing compensation to the personoffering such services.
628.220License required for locker plant business. No person shall engage withinthis state in the business of owning or operating any refrigerated locker plantor offering the services of such plant without having obtained from the StateDepartment of Agriculture a license for each such place of business. Thelicensee shall at all times maintain the license conspicuously displayed in thelicensed plant.
628.230Application for and issuance of license; rules. Application forthe license required by ORS 628.220 shall be made to the State Department ofAgriculture in writing containing such information and in such form as may beprescribed by the department. The license is not transferable and does notauthorize the conduct of any refrigerated locker business at any address otherthan that stated in the application. Licenses shall be issued for the fiscalyear commencing on July 1 and ending on June 30 next following or for such periodas may be specified by department rule. [Amended by 2007 c.768 §33]
628.240License fees; disposition. (1) The license fee for a refrigerated locker plantis $100.
(2)If the license is issued after January 1 but before June 30 of the same year,the license fee shall be one-half of the fee provided in subsection (1) of thissection.
(3)All fees received by the State Department of Agriculture pursuant to ORS628.210 to 628.370 shall be deposited in the Department of Agriculture ServiceFund and are continuously appropriated to the department for the purpose ofadministering and enforcing those sections. [Amended by 1955 c.174 §1; 1979c.183 §3; 1979 c.499 §26a; 1991 c.632 §7]
628.250Refusal, revocation or suspension of licenses. The StateDepartment of Agriculture, acting through the Director of Agriculture or thedivision chief of the department in charge of the inspection of refrigeratedlocker plants, may refuse, revoke or suspend any license issued pursuant to ORS628.220 to 628.240 upon finding, after a hearing had in conformance with ORSchapter 183, that:
(1)The licensee has violated any provision of ORS 628.210 to 628.370 or any otherlaw of Oregon relating to the operation of refrigerated locker plants or frozenfood storage plants or the handling or sale of any food for human consumptionor has violated any rule or regulation promulgated by the department.
(2)The building, room, basement or cellar occupied by the refrigerated lockerplant is not properly lighted, drained, plumbed, ventilated and maintained in aclean, healthful and sanitary condition.
(3)The floors, walls or ceilings of the refrigerated locker plant or thefurniture, receptacles, implements or machinery used in the locker plant arenot maintained in a clean, healthful and sanitary condition. [Amended by 1961c.425 §15]
628.260Furnishing copies of law to applicants for licenses; posting copy. Two copies ofORS 628.210 to 628.370 and 628.990 (2) shall be furnished each applicant for alicense. One copy shall be posted in a conspicuous place in the plant operatedby the licensee.
628.270Prohibition against employees with communicable disease in plant; healthcertificate; rules.(1) The Oregon Health Authority may, by rule, define certain communicablediseases which may be spread to the public through the handling of food inrefrigerated locker plants.
(2)No person who has a communicable or infectious disease described in subsection(1) of this section shall be permitted to work in or about any refrigeratedlocker plant or to handle any food in connection with the operation of suchplant.
(3)In the discretion of the State Department of Agriculture, an employee of alocker plant may be required to furnish a certificate of health from aphysician duly accredited by the authority for the purpose of issuing suchcertificates. If such certificate is required under municipal ordinance uponexamination deemed adequate by the authority, a certificate issued incompliance with such ordinance is sufficient under this section.
(4)Any health certificate required by this section shall be revoked by theauthority at any time that the holder thereof is found, upon physicalexamination of such holder, to have any communicable or infectious disease.Refusal of any person employed in such locker plant to submit to proper andreasonable physical examination, upon written demand by the authority or thedepartment, is cause for revocation of the employee’s health certificate andalso is sufficient reason for revocation of the locker plant’s license unlessthe employee immediately is removed from any work or operation in or about suchlocker plant involving the handling of food. [Amended by 1973 c.829 §56; 1989c.224 §122; 2009 c.595 §1039]
628.280Inspection of plants; maintenance in sanitary condition. The StateDepartment of Agriculture shall cause a thorough inspection of every plant orestablishment licensed under ORS 628.220 to 628.240 to be made periodically, todetermine whether or not the premises and equipment used in connection therewithare constructed, maintained and operated in accordance with the requirements ofORS 628.210 to 628.370 and with the rules and regulations of the departmentthereunder promulgated. Such locker plants shall be maintained in a clean,healthful and sanitary condition at all times.
628.290Sanitary and safety requirements. (1) Each refrigerated locker plantwherein food is handled, wrapped or processed shall have available, andmaintain in a clean, healthful and sanitary condition, a washroom with hot andcold running water.
(2)Each refrigerated room with a temperature below 30 degrees Fahrenheit, if usedby the public or accessible to locker renters, shall be equipped with safetylight or lights burning continuously during all times when the plant is openand so located as to assure easy exit from the refrigerated room. Switches forsafety lights shall be so located or installed that the public cannot regulatetheir “on” and “off” positions.
(3)Each refrigerated room with a temperature below 12 degrees Fahrenheit, if usedby the public or accessible to locker renters, shall be equipped with adistress signal, plainly marked as such for use by patrons. The distress signalalarm may be located at a place outside the locker plant. The refrigerated roomshall be accessible to the public only at such times as an attendant is withinhearing distance of the distress signal alarm. The distress signal whenactivated shall perform continuously until arrested by a second operation. Thedistress signal shall produce a distinctive sound capable of being heard anddistinguished by an attendant from any other signal. The operator of the lockerroom or the employee of the operator shall test the distress signal on each dayon which the public has access to the refrigerated room.
(4)Subsection (3) of this section does not apply if an operating extensiontelephone, plainly marked for use by patrons as a distress signal, is locatedinside the refrigerated room at a convenient height not to exceed four feetabove floor level.
(5)All refrigerator doors shall be so constructed as to be opened from either theinside or outside of any room or compartment to which they give access, andshall be so maintained as to assure that such doors will open freely at alltimes.
(6)All machinery or other devices dangerous to the public shall be adequatelycovered and guarded to protect locker room tenants against injury. [Amended by1955 c.174 §2]
628.300Maintaining uniform temperatures; records. (1) The refrigeration system ofa refrigerated locker plant shall be equipped with accurate controls for themaintenance of uniform temperatures as required in this section in the variousrefrigerated rooms of such plant and shall be of adequate capacity to provideunder extreme conditions of outside temperatures and under peak load conditionsin the normal operation of such plant, the following temperatures in thefollowing rooms respectively:
(a)Chill room temperature shall be within four degrees Fahrenheit plus or minus of36 degrees above zero Fahrenheit, with a tolerance of 10 degrees Fahrenheit for24 hours after fresh food is put in such room for chilling.
(b)In all locker plants operating on July 5, 1947, the locker room temperatureshall not exceed 12 degrees Fahrenheit plus. In all locker plants, theconstruction of which is begun after July 5, 1947, the locker room temperatureshall not exceed five degrees Fahrenheit plus.
(2)The temperatures required by subsection (1) of this section shall not beconstrued as prohibiting variations therefrom due to defrosting, power failureor any emergency breakdown.
(3)An accurate direct reading thermometer shall be maintained in the chill room.An accurate self-registering or self-recording thermometer shall be maintainedin each locker room or in each series of rooms through which the same aircirculates. The discs or other temperature records made by such instrumentsshall be signed by the person in charge of the plant and shall be preserved atsuch plant for at least one year from the date of recording. Suchtemperature-recording equipment and the recordings thereby made, are subject toinspection and testing by the State Department of Agriculture to determinetheir accuracy.
628.310Use of nontoxic marking. In applying marks directly to meat or other foodproducts, the operator of a refrigerated locker room shall use only nontoxicink or other harmless substance.
628.320Inspection of food; storage outside lockers. The operator or person in chargeof a refrigerated locker room shall have the right to inspect all food or anyitem before it is placed in any locker. Nothing shall be stored outside of thelockers in a locker room without being labeled and wrapped or otherwiseproperly covered.
628.330Fresh meats, identification and chilling. All fresh carcass meats oncoming into custody or possession of the operator or owner of a refrigeratedlocker plant shall be identified with suitable tag or stamp and shall be placedin the chill room, unless previously chilled, for at least 24 hours beforeremoval to the cutting room.
628.340Fish and wild game.All fish shall be so handled, placed and stored as to protect other storedfoods and the plant equipment from fish flavors and fish odors. Fish and wildgame shall be stored and handled only in conformity with fish and game laws ofthis state and regulations thereunder promulgated. Owners, operators or personsin charge of refrigerated locker plants shall not be held responsible or liablefor violations of such laws and regulations by locker tenants.
628.350Rules and regulations. The State Department of Agriculture may make andenforce reasonable rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of ORS628.210 to 628.370.
628.360Owners and operators of locker plants not warehousemen. Persons who ownor operate refrigerated locker plants shall not be deemed to be warehousemen,nor shall receipts or other instruments issued by such persons in the ordinaryconduct of their business be deemed to be negotiable warehouse receipts.
628.370Jurisdiction and prosecution of violations of ORS 628.210 to 628.370. Justice courtsshall have concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court of all prosecutionsarising under ORS 628.210 to 628.370. The district attorney may instituteprosecutions for violations of ORS 628.210 to 628.370 by information, or theprosecutions may be instituted by indictment or complaint verified before anymagistrate.
628.380 [Amended by1979 c.499 §27; repealed by 1987 c.905 §37]
628.990Criminal penalties.Violation of ORS 628.210 to 628.370 is punishable, upon conviction, by a fineof not less than $10 nor more than $1,000 or by imprisonment in the county jailfor not more than one year, or both. [Amended by 1953 c.114 §2]
628.995Civil penalties; rules; hearing; disposition of moneys. (1) In additionto any penalty available under ORS 561.190 or 628.990, the State Department ofAgriculture may impose a civil penalty for a violation of ORS 628.210 to628.370 or of rules or regulations adopted under ORS 628.210 to 628.370. Forthe purposes of this section, each day a violation continues after the periodof time established for compliance shall be considered a separate violationunless the department finds that a different period of time is more appropriateto describe a specific violation event.
(2)The department may adopt rules establishing a schedule of civil penalties thatmay be imposed under this section. Civil penalties imposed under this sectionmay not exceed $10,000 for each violation.
(3)When the department imposes a civil penalty under subsection (1) of thissection, the department shall impose the penalty in the manner provided by ORS183.745, except that the written application for a hearing must be received bythe department no later than 10 days after the date of mailing or personalservice of the notice of civil penalty.
(4)Moneys received by the department from civil penalties imposed under thissection shall be deposited in the General Fund to the credit of the Departmentof Agriculture Account. [2009 c.175 §22]
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CHAPTERS 629 TO631
[Reserved forexpansion]