"RETAINING" AND "CONDEMNED" ROOMS.
Regulation 16.
Separate compartments, to be known as "retaining rooms," or other special places for final inspection, shall be set apart at all establishments at which inspection is maintained, and all carcasses and parts marked with a "U. S. Retained" tag shall be held in these rooms pending final inspection. These rooms shall be rat proof and furnished with abundant light; the floors shall be of cement, metal, or brick laid in cement. They shall be provided with facilities for locking, and locks for this purpose will be furnished by the Department. The keys to such locks shall remain in the custody of the inspector or his assistant.
Immediately after the final inspection of carcasses and parts are marked with "U. S. Retained" tags is completed, those found to be wholesome and fit for human food shall be released by the veterinary inspector conducting the inspection, who shall remove the "U. S. Retained" tags, and the carcasses shall be removed from the retaining rooms and marked "U. S. Inspected and Passed," as provided in Regulation 28.
The floors and walls of all retaining rooms shall be washed with hot water and disinfected after diseased animals are removed, and before any "retained" animals are again placed therein.
Carcasses or parts of carcasses found on final inspection to be unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food shall be marked "U. S. Inspected and Condemned," as provided in Regulation 28, and shall be removed from the retaining room to the "condemned" room, if not tanked within twenty-four hours.
(a) In each establishment at which condemned carcasses or meat food products are held for more than twenty-four hours after condemnation, there shall be provided a room entirely separate from all other rooms in the establishment. This room shall be secure and shall be provided with a lock, the key of which shall remain in the custody of a Department employee. This room shall be known as the "condemned" room, and shall be kept locked at all times except when condemned meat or meat food product is being taken into or from the said room under the supervision of a Department employee.
All condemned carcasses shall be removed from retaining rooms within twenty-four hours after they are condemned, except in questionable cases, when they are held pending the decision of the inspector in charge. Condemned carcasses shall not be allowed to accumulate, but shall be removed from the "condemned" rooms, treated with coloring substances, or otherwise treated, as provided in Regulation 18, paragraph (b), and tanked within a reasonable time after condemnation. Carcasses of diseased animals which are eviscerated in the retaining room or in the specially prepared place under the provisions of Regulation 15, shall, unless passed, be removed immediately either to the "condemned" room or to the tank.
Regulation 17.
Bruised Parts.—When a portion of a carcass is to be condemned on account of slight bruises, which cannot be properly removed until the carcass is chilled, the carcass shall be marked with a "U. S. Retained" tag placed and in the retaining room. After chilling, the affected portion shall be cut out, marked "U. S. Inspected and Condemned," and removed to the tank or locked in the "condemned" room, and the remainder of the carcass shall be marked "U. S. Inspected and Passed."
