(a) (1) No person who processes, butchers, slaughters, packs, repacks, or sells poultry or poultry meat shall advertise, hold out, distribute, or sell as “fresh” any poultry or poultry meat whose internal temperature has been below 26 degrees Fahrenheit.
(2) No person who processes, butchers, slaughters, packs, repacks, or sells poultry or poultry meat shall label as “fresh” any poultry or poultry meat whose internal temperature has been below 26 degrees Fahrenheit.
(3) No poultry or poultry meat that is distributed or sold as “fresh” shall be stored or handled in such a manner that it reaches an internal temperature below 26 degrees Fahrenheit.
(4) No person who processes, butchers, slaughters, packs, repacks, or sells poultry or poultry meat may sell or distribute poultry or poultry meat if it is adulterated, misbranded, or if its labeling is false or misleading in any particular.
(b) No poultry retailer is guilty of a violation of subdivision (a) or of the regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (c) unless the poultry retailer engages, with actual knowledge, in an act prohibited by subdivision (a).
(c) The secretary may adopt regulations reasonably necessary for carrying out this section, and those regulations shall be, insofar as possible, consistent with regulations adopted by the United States Department of Agriculture.
(d) Each prohibition in subdivision (a) stands alone and if any prohibition in subdivision (a) has been held, or in the future is held, to be unconstitutional, preempted by federal law, or otherwise invalid by any court, all of the other prohibitions set forth in subdivision (a) are intended to, and shall remain, fully effective and shall be interpreted to exclude the unconstitutional, preempted, or otherwise invalid prohibition or prohibitions. If any sentence, clause, word, or portion of this section is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, preempted by federal law, or otherwise invalid, that holding shall not affect the remaining portions of this section. The Legislature hereby declares that it would have enacted this section and each sentence, clause, word, or portion thereof despite the fact that one or more sentences, clauses, words, or portions of this section may be held unconstitutional, preempted by federal law, or otherwise invalid.
(Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 106, Sec. 2. Effective June 16, 1994.)