NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1975 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 659

SENATE BILL 598

 

 

AN ACT TO MAKE IT A CRIMINAL OFFENSE TO ADULTERATE GRAINS MEANT FOR HUMAN OR ANIMAL CONSUMPTION.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  For purposes of this act, the following words or terms shall mean as follows:

1.         Grain: corn, wheat, soybeans, milo, barley, oats, rye, and mixtures of them.

2.         Adulterated grain: grain which contains any substance, such as, but not limited to, Captan, Carbon Tetrachloride, Malathion, Parathion, D.D.T., Dieldren, Thiram, Endrin, Heptachlor, Maneb, Methoxychlor, 2, 6-Dichloro, 4-nitroaniline, Pentachloronitrobenzene, Hexachlorobenzene, Demeton, Phorate, Carbophenothion, in excess of the tolerance for human or animal consumption established for such substance by the laws of the State or the regulations of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, or both the State and the department.

3.         Commissioner: North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture.

4.         Grain dealer: any person owning, controlling or operating an elevator, mill, warehouse or other similar structure or truck or tractor-trailer unit or both who buys, solicits for sale or resale, processes for sale or resale, contracts for storage or exchange or transfers grain after obtaining title to the grain of a North Carolina producer. The term "grain dealer" shall exclude producers, groups of producers, or contract feeders buying grain for consumption in their operations.

5.         Person: any individual, partnership, corporation, association, syndicate or other legal entity.

Sec. 2.  It shall be unlawful for any person to commit a prohibited act under G.S. 106-122 with adulterated grain as defined in this act and as the particular grain qualifies as adulterated food under G.S. 106-129.

Sec. 3.  Any person violating the provisions of this act shall be subject to the provisions of G.S. 106-123, G.S. 106-124 and G.S. 106-125.

Sec. 4.  It shall be the duty of the commissioner to cause to be prepared and furnished for a fee of five dollars ($5.00) each to all grain dealers, as defined in this act, in the State a sign not less than 11 x 15 inches, which sign shall contain information that it is a violation of law for any person to sell, offer for sale or deliver adulterated grain. Said sign shall also set out the penalties for violation of this act. Duplicate signs, and replacement for signs lost, stolen, worn or otherwise unusable, shall be purchased from the Department of Agriculture for a fee of five dollars ($5.00) per sign.

Sec. 5.  It shall be the duty of the owner, manager, or person in charge of the elevator, mill, warehouse or other similar structure to post in a conspicuous place, in view of the public, a sign or signs furnished to the grain dealer by the commissioner pursuant to this act.

Sec. 6.  It shall not be a defense to a prosecution under this act that the sign required to be posted by Section 5 hereof was not posted on the date of the alleged violation.

Sec. 7.  For purposes of evidence under this act, the grain dealer or his agent, upon receipt or pending receipt of suspected adulterated grain, may, at his discretion, call any law enforcement officer to verify the sampling technique, origin of sampled grain and subsequently send or request the law enforcement officer to send the sample of grain in a sealed package to the Department of Agriculture for inspection and analysis in order to protect only the chain of evidence.

Upon finding by the Department of Agriculture that said sample is adulterated grain, the department shall notify the grain dealer of the results and return the sample to the original sender in a sealed package.

Sec. 8.  The terms of this act shall not apply to grain sold, offered for sale or delivered for purposes of planting.

Sec. 9.  This act shall become effective on July 1, 1975; provided, however, there shall be no prosecution under the provisions hereof for any act occurring prior to September 1, 1975.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 18th day of June, 1975.