ORDINANCE NO. 578

AN ORDINANCE REGULATING THE APPOINTMENT OF A CITY VETERINARIAN AND DEPUTY VETERINARIAN AND PRESCRIBING THE DUTIES THEREOF: REGULATING THE INSPECTION, SLAUGHTERING, SALE AND CARE OF MEAT AND PRESCRIBING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION THEREOF.

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO:

I. CITY VETERINARIAN.

SECTION 1. CITY VETERINARIAN - APPOINTMENT - BOND. There is hereby created the office of City Veterinarian, whose duties shall be as hereinafter prescribed. The Veterinarian shall be appointed by the City Manager and shall be subject to all times to the direction and control of the Chief of Health and Parks and under the general supervision of the City Manager. Before entering upon the duties of his office he shall file in the office of the City Auditor his oath, together with a surety bond in the sum of one thousand ($1,000.00) dollars, to be approved by the City Council, conditioned upon the faithful discharge of his duties.

SECTION 2. APPOINTMENT OF DEPUTY. A Deputy Veterinarian may be appointed by the City Manager. Such Deputy Veterinarian shall have all the powers conferred upon the said Veterinarian when in active duty as provided in this ordinance, but shall, at all times, be subject to the direction and control of the Chief of Health and Parks and City Veterinarian, under the general supervision of the City Manager.

SECTION 3. QUALIFICATIONS OF VETERINARIAN - POLICE POWERS. The City Veterinarian of the City of Grand Junction, and the Deputy City Veterinarian shall each be a licensed veterinarian, and graduate of a veterinary school or college which is recognized by the State Board of Veterinary Examiners. The City Veterinarian and all assistants under him shall have full and complete police power in all matters pertaining to the enforcement of ordinances now in effect, or which may hereafter be passed, affecting the inspection, slaughtering, sale, handling, keeping or disposal of meat carcasses, or any part thereof of any slaughtered or to be slaughtered cattle, calf, sheep, goats or swine, or any fish, game, poultry, oysters or any product of any slaughtered animal, game, fish, poultry or any other meat food, and shall have power to arrest and bring before the Municipal Judge any offender against any of the provisions of any ordinance regulating or controlling the slaughtering, keeping, selling or disposing of any of said products. It shall be unlawful for any person to remove any tags or stamps placed upon any carcass, meat product, game, fish, poultry, oysters, or any food product, composed in part or in whole of such materials which shall have been placed thereon by the Veterinarians of the City of Grand Junction, or any of their assistants, until such food product shall be in the hands of the consumer. The City Manager shall have power, and is hereby authorized, to adopt such reasonable rules and regulations as may by him be deemed from time to time necessary to carry out the provisions of this ordinance.

SECTION 4. INSPECTORS AND ASSISTANTS - POLICE POWERS. The inspectors of the Health Department and assistants may enter at any time, and no person shall hinder or prevent him or them from so entering, any place in this city where live cattle, calves, sheep, goats or swine are held, or where animals are slaughtered, or where poultry, game, fish or oysters are dressed, scaled or prepared to be disposed of for human food; and likewise they may enter any house, store, market, stall, railroad car, wagon or other vehicle where meat, sausage, poultry, game, fish or oysters are prepared, packed, stored, transported, held or kept for sale for human food; and likewise they may also enter any factory or place where dead animals are skinned or rendered, or where the offal from slaughter houses or meat stores, such as fat, head, feet or guts are steamed, tanked or likewise disposed of.

SECTION 5. OFFICERS OR DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SHALL HAVE FULL AND FREE INSPECTION - ENTITLED TO ANSWER - SAMPLES. That every butcher, grocer, or milk dealer, their agents, servants, or employees, shall allow the officers of the Health Department, freely and fully to inspect their cattle, meat, or fish, held and offered for sale; shall answer all reasonable questions asked by such persons relative to the condition thereof, and of the places where such articles may be; and shall give samples thereof in quantities sufficient for analysis and examination.

SECTION 6. INSPECTION OF MEATS - REQUIREMENTS. No carcass, or any part thereof, of any slaughtered cattle, calf, sheep, goat or swine to be sold or offered for sale in the City of Grand Junction shall be branded or otherwise marked for identification by the Veterinarian or his assistants, until it has been carefully inspected and passed for food, and no animal, cattle, calf, sheep, goat or swine, shall be slaughtered at any abattoir or slaughter house for such use, except the same shall have been slaughtered under the direction of the Veterinarian of the City of Grand Junction, or such assistant as he may have designated to the inspection of said slaughter.

SECTION 7. MEAT INSPECTION BRAND - REQUIREMENTS. No person shall sell or offer for sale, or have within his possession for the purpose of sale, within the city limits, or otherwise dispose of, or have within his possession for the disposal of, for human food, therein, any meat or meat product of any cattle, calf, sheep, goat or swine, which does not bear the meat inspection brand or other mark of identification of the City Veterinarian or of the United States Department of Agriculture, or of any other municipality where meat inspection is maintained and which shall have been approved by the Health Department.

SECTION 8. DISEASED, INJURED, ETC., BEEF, ETC., NOT BROUGHT INTO CITY OR OFFERED FOR SALE WITHOUT PERMISSION. No person shall bring into this city, or sell or offer for sale, or give to the proprietor or agent of any packing or slaughter house, or to any butcher in this city any cattle, hog, sheep or lamb that is diseased, injured, crippled, immature, under weight, badly emaciated, or that for any other obvious reason might be unfit for human food, without first reporting all the facts known to him relating to such animal or animals to the Veterinarian and receiving his written permission so to do.

SECTION 9. PACKING HOUSES, ETC., NOT BRING INTO CITY DISEASED, INJURED, ETC., BEEF WITHOUT PERMISSION. No proprietor or agent of any packing house or slaughter house, nor any butcher in this city, shall bring into this city, or buy or offer to buy or accept in this city, any cattle, calf, hog, sheep, or lamb, that is diseased, injured, crippled, immature, under weight, badly emaciated, or that for any other obvious reason might be unfit for human food, without first reporting all the facts known to him relating to such animal or animals to the City Veterinarian and receiving his written permission so to do.

SECTION 10. UNFIT MEATS, ETC., SEIZED AND DESTROYED. No person shall bring into this city, or sell or offer for sale, any meat, sausage, poultry, game, fish or oysters, that are diseased, adulterated, unsound, unwholesome, or that for any other reason are unfit for human food, except as provided in Section 8; and all such articles of food shall be seized and destroyed by the Veterinarian or his assistants.

SECTION 11. MEATS UNFIT FOR FOOD - HOW DESTROYED. Any carcass, or any part thereof, of any slaughtered cattle, calf, sheep, goat or swine, in this city, which, because of disease, injury or any other condition, is unfit for human food, shall be freely slashed with a knife and saturated with coal oil or indelible dye by the Veterinarian or his assistants, and shall not be sold or otherwise disposed of for human food.

II. INSPECTION PERMITS.

SECTION 12. INSPECTION PERMIT REQUIRED FOR SALE OF MEATS. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation, to keep open, establish, maintain or conduct within the limits of the City of Grand Junction any butcher shop, meat market, grocery store, or any place where any fresh meats or fresh fish, are offered or exposed for sale, or sold, without complying with each and all of the provisions of this ordinance, and without a permit therefor from the City Auditor of the City of Grand Junction. Said permit shall be countersigned by the City Manager of said City.

SECTION 13. PREMISES TO BE INSPECTED BEFORE PERMIT ISSUED. No inspection permit will be issued to any butcher shop, meat market, grocery store, slaughter house where any fresh meats or fresh fish are offered or exposed for sale, or sold or where any cattle, calf, sheep, goat or swine are killed or dressed for human consumption, until such place has been inspected by the City Veterinarian and has been by him certified as meeting the requirements for sanitation as herein set forth.

SECTION 14. PERMITS - CLASSIFICATION OF. For the purposes of this ordinance inspection permits shall be divided into three classifications as follows:

(1) Retail Sale - Class A. This class shall include any market, meat shop, butcher shop, grocery or other place where carcasses or parts of carcasses are cut, carved or sliced into smaller or retail cuts. By retail cuts is meant any portion of meat of the size ordinarily sold to retail trade for immediate consumption and includes steaks, chops, roasts, etc.

(2) Retail Sale - Class B. This class shall include any market, grocery or other place which do not cut, carve or slice carcasses or parts of carcasses, but which purchase fresh meats, fresh fish, game or fowl already cut ready for retail trade from approved packing firms, slaughter houses or holders of Class A permits.

(3) Slaughter House. This class shall include any place, room, building or premises wherein any cattle, calf, sheep, goat or swine are killed or dressed for human consumption.

SECTION 15. FEES FOR PERMITS. All fees for inspection permits shall be paid in advance to the City Treasurer at the following rates:

(1) Retail Sale, Class A. The permit fee for this class shall be $60.00 per calendar year or fraction thereof.

(2) Retail Sale, Class B. The permit fee for this class shall be $35.00 per annum or fraction thereof.

(3) Slaughter house. The fee for each slaughter house shall be two hundred fifty ($250.00) per annum or fraction thereof for all such places within sixteen (16) miles of the City limits of the City of Grand Junction. Slaughter houses located more than sixteen miles from said City Limits shall not be inspected by the City Veterinarian nor by his assistants.

SECTION 16. PERMIT - REVOCATION OF. Any inspection permit issued, under and by virtue of the provision of this ordinance, may be revoked by the City Manager if the premises covered by such permit are not kept in a cleanly and healthy condition, or if the holder of such permit shall sell, or expose for sale, or offer for sale, any meats, fish, game or fowl, of an improper quality, or unfit for human consumption or if any or all ordinances of the City or rules or ordinances of the Health Department in respect to said sale, storage or exposure, of such fish, meats, game or fowls, are not fully and faithfully complied with.

SECTION 17. PERMITS - TERM OF. All permits issued under this ordinance shall be for the calendar year or fraction thereof and shall expire on December 31st of the year of issuance and shall not be transferred or assigned.

III. PROVISIONS FOR RETAILING

SECTION 18. RETAIL DISPLAY COUNTER. Any person, firm or corporation that maintains or conducts, within the limits of the City any butcher shop, meat market, grocery store, or other place where fresh meats, fresh fish, poultry or fowl are offered or exposed for sale, or sold, shall keep any such fresh meat or poultry, when offered or exposed for sale, in a cleanly and sanitary manner; and when any such food is laid out or exposed for sale on any counter, table or other fixture, the same shall be enclosed in glass or covered with proper screen or other material that will keep flies from reaching, touching or contaminating such food; and any such person, firm or corporation shall obey any reasonable rules or orders received from the City Veterinarian, or any of his agents, employees or inspectors, that may be made concerning the method of keeping such food cleanly and sanitary. Any such person, firm or corporation shall not permit any customer or other person to touch or handle any such food.

SECTION 19. REQUIREMENTS. CLASS A, RETAIL. Every retail store, market or other place holding a Class A - Retail inspection permit in addition to a cooler type display counter, shall be equipped with a suitable refrigerator or cooler of the walk-in type of such size and construction as approved by the Health Department, and all carcasses or parts of carcasses shall be kept in said refrigerator or cooler except when same is in process of being cut into retail cuts.

SECTION 20. REQUIREMENTS - CLASS B, RETAIL. Every retail store or other place holding a Class B - Retail inspection permit shall be equipped with suitable cooler type display cases and such other refrigeration as may be specified in the rules and regulations of the Health Department.

SECTION 21. CLEANLINESS RETAIL PREMISES - APRONS. The owner or owners, occupier, or occupiers, of any market, meat shop, grocery or other place, where meats, fish, fowl, game or other food of any kind whatsoever is kept for sale, offered for sale or sold, shall keep such premises in a cleanly and satisfactory condition subject to the orders of the Health Department; and all employees or other persons engaged on the premises, in the handling, care or sale of said meats and other foods shall be attired in a cleanly manner, and all butchers shall wear clean aprons.

SECTION 22. ALL MEAT FOR SALE MUST BE COOLED, ETC. That no meat or dead animal above the size of a rabbit shall be taken to any public or private market for sale, until the same shall have fully cooled, and all blood shall have ceased dripping therefrom after its killing, nor until the entrails, head, horn and feet have been removed, nor shall gut-fat, nor shall any unwholesome or offensive matter or thing be brought to or near any such market.

SECTION 23. AGE OF ANIMAL KILLED FOR FOOD - WEIGHT OF CALF, ETC. That no calf, pig or lamb, nor the meat thereof, shall be bought, held or offered for sale as food, which at the date when killed (being a calf) was less than four weeks old, or (being a pig) was killed less than five weeks old, or (being a lamb) was killed less than eight weeks old. Nor shall any meager, sickly or unwholesome fish, bird or fowl, be bought, held, sold or offered for sale as food; nor shall any calf, weighing less than seventy-five pounds be bought, held or offered for sale for food.

SECTION 24. UNSOUND OR STALE MEATS. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, firm or corporation in the City of Grand Junction, to keep, or sell, or to offer or expose for sale, or to sell any unsound, stale, putrid or diseased meats, fish or fowl.

IV. SLAUGHTER HOUSES

SECTION 25. SLAUGHTERING TO BE DONE ONLY IN INSPECTED SLAUGHTER HOUSE. Any animal slaughtered and dressed for the purpose of offering for sale or consumption within the City of Grand Junction or in any way subject to inspection as provided in this ordinance, must be slaughtered in a duly inspected slaughter house. No animal shall be inspected unless slaughtered as above provided.

SECTION 26. NO SLAUGHTERING, ETC., INSIDE CITY LIMITS. No person shall slaughter, kill or dress any cattle, calves, sheep, or steam any lard or tallow within the corporate limits of the City of Grand Junction, and no hides or offal shall at any time be kept upon or in the premises devoted to the storage or sale of meats, nor upon nor in any other premises, except by the written permission of the Health Department, for a set and specified time at the expiration of which the said permission shall expire.

SECTION 27. SANITARY REQUIREMENTS. All houses or places in which animals are slaughtered, or the meat and meat products are prepared, cured, packed, stored, handled or sold shall be suitably lighted and ventilated and maintained in a sanitary condition and shall have an abundance of water from an uncontaminated source which may be supplied with adequate pressure through a hose to any part of the room or rooms used for the slaughtering or preparing of meats for food. All work in such establishments shall be performed in a cleanly and sanitary manner and shall meet the following sanitary requirements:

(1) Ceilings, side walls, pillars, partitions, etc., shall be frequently whitewashed or painted, or, where this is impracticable, they shall, when necessary, be washed, scraped, or otherwise rendered sanitary. All floors shall be made of cement or tile laid in cement, brick or other material which can be flushed and washed clean with water. Where floors or other parts of a building, or tables or other parts of the equipment, are so old or in such condition that they cannot be readily made sanitary, they shall be removed and replaced by suitable materials or otherwise put in a condition acceptable to the Veterinarian. All floors upon which meats are piled during the process of curing shall be so constructed that they can be kept in a clean and sanitary condition, and such meats shall also be kept clean.

(2) All trucks, trays and other receptacles, all chutes, platforms, racks, tables, etc., and all knives, saws, cleavers, and other tools, and all utensils and machinery used in moving, handling, cutting, chopping, mixing, canning, or other process, shall be thoroughly cleansed daily, if used.

(3) The aprons, smocks, or other outer clothing of employees who handle meat in contact with such clothing shall be of a material which is readily cleansed and made sanitary, and shall be cleansed daily, if used. Employees who handle meat or meat food products shall be required to keep their hands clean.

(4) All toilet rooms, urinals and dressing rooms shall be entirely separated from compartments in which carcasses are dressed, or meat or meat food products are cured, stored, packed, handled, prepared or sold. They shall be sufficient in number, ample in size, and fitted with modern lavatory accommodations, including toilet paper, soap, running water, towels, etc. They shall be properly lighted, suitably ventilated, and kept in a sanitary condition.

(5) The rooms or compartments in which meats or meat food products are prepared, cured, stored, packed or otherwise handled, shall be properly lighted and ventilated, and shall be so located that odors from toilet rooms, catch basins, casing departments, tank rooms, hide cellars, etc., do not penetrate them. All rooms or compartments shall be provided with cuspidors, which employees who expectorate shall be required to use.

SECTION 28. ANTE-MORTEM AND POST-MORTEM INSPECTION-HOURS AND REGULATIONS FOR SLAUGHTERING. The slaughtering in slaughter houses or abattoirs under the inspection of the City Veterinarian of the City of Grand Junction, shall be done between the hours of seven o'clock in the morning and 5:30 o'clock in the afternoon, or between such hours as may be designated by the laws of the United States or the meat inspection rules of the United States Department of Agriculture, except that by rule of the Health Department times of slaughter may be limited or changed from time to time, not inconsistent with the laws of the United States or the rules of the United States Department of Agriculture. All animals so slaughtered or to be slaughtered shall be subjected to ante-mortem examination and inspection by the Health Department, Veterinarians, or such assistant or assistants as they may designate, and no meat shall be slaughtered within the places herein prescribed, unless an ante-mortem inspection shall have been made, and after said animals shall have been slaughtered the carcasses thereof shall be subjected to a post-mortem examination by the Veterinarian, or such assistant as he may designate to perform said service, and said carcasses shall be duly stamped or tagged by said Veterinarian, if the same shall appear to him to be proper for food and consumption; and in case said carcass shall not be deemed by said Veterinarian to be proper for human food, then the same may be condemned, as otherwise provided in this ordinance.

SECTION 29. SLAUGHTERING NOT PERMITTED ON SUNDAY OR HOLIDAY - EXCEPTION. No slaughtering of live stock shall be done at any packing house or slaughter house in this City on any legal holiday nor on the day commonly called Sunday, unless permission be obtained from the Veterinarian, or in case the house is under government inspection, by the inspector in charge.

SECTION 30. COMMUNICABLE DISEASES. Persons affected with tuberculosis or any other communicable disease shall not be knowingly employed in any of the departments of establishments where carcasses are dressed, meats handled, or meat food products prepared, and any employee suspected of being so affected shall be so reported by the Veterinarian to the manager of the establishment and to the Health Department.

SECTION 31. USE OF PREMISES. No use incompatible with proper sanitation shall be made of any part of the premises on which a slaughter house is located. All yards, fences, pens, chutes, alleys, etc., belonging to the premises of such establishments shall, whether they are used or not, be maintained in a sanitary condition.

SECTION 32. BUTCHERS - CARE. Butchers who dress diseased carcasses shall cleanse their hands of all grease and then immerse them in a prescribed disinfectant and rinse them in clear water before engaging again in dressing or handling healthy carcasses. All butchers' implements used in dressing diseased carcasses shall be cleansed of all grease and then sterilized, either in boiling water or by immersion in a prescribed disinfectant, and rinsed in clear water before being used again in dressing healthy carcasses. Facilities for such cleansing and disinfection approved by the Veterinarian, shall be provided by the establishment. Separate trucks, etc., shall be furnished for handling diseased carcasses and parts. Following the slaughter of an animal affected with an infectious disease, a stop shall be made until the implements have been cleansed and disinfected unless duplicate implements are provided.

SECTION 33. FALLING ON FLOOR. Meats and meat food products intended for rendering into edible products must be prevented from falling on the floor, while being emptied into tanks, by the use of some device, such as a funnel.

SECTION 34. SKEWERS. Butchers who dress carcasses are prohibited from holding in their mouths skewers to be used in such dressing.

SECTION 35. SLAUGHTER HOUSES NOT USED AS RESIDENCE OR LODGING HOUSES. No slaughter house or any part thereof shall be used or occupied as a residence or lodging place for any person; and no slaughtering of live stock shall be permitted in any house, building or place used as a residence or lodging place for human beings.

SECTION 36. VEAL - HOW DRESSED. No veal calf at the time of slaughter shall be dressed with the skin left on the carcass, unless such skin is clean and the feet are removed.

SECTION 37. WATER AND VENTILATION, ETC., FOR CATTLE. That no cattle shall be kept in any place in which the water and ventilation are insufficient for the preservation of their health, and the safe condition and wholesomeness of food.

SECTION 38. ANIMALS TO BE FED AND WATERED. All animals kept in yard attached to the slaughter houses shall be treated in a humane manner, and if kept there over twelve hours shall be fed and watered and no animal shall be killed while such animal is in over-heated, feverish or diseased condition.

SECTION 39. MEATS TO BE INSPECTED AND BRANDED BEFORE REMOVAL FROM SLAUGHTER HOUSE. No dressed carcass, or any part thereof, of any slaughtered cattle, calf, sheep, goat or swine, to be used for human food, within the City of Grand Junction, shall be removed from any slaughter house or slaughtering place before it has been branded or otherwise marked for identification, by the City Veterinarian or assistants, or by the inspectors of the United States Department of Agriculture.

SECTION 40. MEATS IN TRANSIT TO BE COVERED. No meat or meat product shall be transported in any wagon or other vehicle in the City unless fully protected from moisture, soot, dust and flies, by the use of covered vehicles, with the front and back closed, or by the use of clean white cloths spread over the meat or meat products.

SECTION 41. DELIVERY TRUCKS, ETC., KEPT SANITARY. All delivery trucks and other vehicles, together with boxes, barrels, and other containers used in transporting meats in the City shall be kept perfectly clean; and no dirty burlap or other dirty cloths shall be used in contact with meat.

V. PENALTY AND REPEAL.

SECTION 42. PENALTY. Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall, upon conviction, be fined in a sum not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than three hundred dollars ($300.00) for each and every offense.

SECTION 43. INCONSISTENT WITH UNITED STATES LAWS. That if any of the provisions of this ordinance shall conflict with or be inconsistent with the laws of the United States or the rules of the United States Department of Agriculture governing the inspection of meat, said laws and rules shall govern.

SECTION 44. REPEAL. Ordinance No. 341 and all other ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with the provisions of this ordinance are hereby repealed.

Passed and adopted this 30th day of June, A. D. 1937.

/s/ C. K. Enstrom

President of the Council

ATTEST:

/s/ Helen C. Tomlinson

City Clerk

I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing ordinance, being Ordinance No. 578, was introduced, read and ordered published by the City Council of the City of Grand Junction, Colorado, at the regular meeting of said body held on the 16th day of June, A. D. 1937, and that the same was published in The Daily Sentinel, a newspaper published and in general circulation in said City at least ten days before its final passage.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of said City, this 1st day of July, A. D. 1937.

/s/ Helen C. Tomlinson

City Clerk

1st publication June 18, 1937

Last publication July 2, 1937