Definitions

PURPOSE: This rule establishes definitions of words or terms (except in those instances where the context clearly indicates otherwise) used in the regulations of this chapter as required by section 196.354, RSMo. (1) “Check” means any individual egg that has a broken shell or crack in the shell but with its shell membranes intact and its contents do not leak. A “check” is lower in quality than a “dirty.” (2) “Consumer” means any person who purchases eggs for such person’s own family use or consumption; or any restaurant, hotel, boardinghouse, bakery, or other institution or concern which purchases eggs for serving to guests or patrons thereof, or for its own use in cooking, baking, or manufacturing their products. (3) “Container” means any box, case, basket, carton, sack, bag, or other receptacle. (4) “Dealer” means any person who purchases eggs from the producers thereof, or another dealer, for the purpose of selling such eggs to another dealer, a processor, or retailer. (5) “Denatured” means eggs— (A) Made unfit for human food by treatment or the addition of a foreign substance; or (B) With one-half (1/2) or more of the shell’s surface covered by a permanent black, dark purple, or dark blue dye. (6) “Director” means the director of the Department of Agriculture. (7) “Dirty” or “dirt” means an egg that has a shell that is unbroken and has adhering dirt or foreign material. (8) “Eggs” means the shell eggs of a domesticated chicken, turkey, duck, quail, goose, or guinea that are intended for human consumption. (9) “Inedible eggs” means eggs which are defined as such in the rules and regulations of the director adopted under sections 196.311 to 196.361, RSMo, which definition shall conform to the specifications adopted therefor by the United States Department of Agriculture. (10) “Leaker” means an individual egg that has a crack or break in the shell and shell membranes to the extent that the egg contents are exuding or free to exude through the shell. (11) “Loss” means an egg that is inedible, cooked, frozen, contaminated, musty, or moldy, or an egg that contains a large blood spot, large meat spot, bloody white, green white, rot, sour eggs, stuck yolk, blood ring, embryo chick (at or beyond the blood ring state), free yolk in the white, or other foreign material, or an egg that is adulterated as such term is defined pursuant to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. (12) “Person” means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, exchange, association, trustee, receiver, corporation, or any other business organization, and any member, officer, or employee thereof. (13) “Processor” means any person engaged in breaking eggs or manufacturing or processing egg liquids, whole egg meats, yolks, whites, or any mixture of yolks and whites, with or without the addition of other ingredients, whether chilled, frozen, condensed, concentrated, dried, powdered or desiccated. (14) “Retailer” means any person who sells eggs to a consumer. (15) “Sell” means offer for sale, expose for sale, have in possession for sale, exchange, barter, or trade. (16) “Subcontainer” means any container when being used within another container. AUTHORITY: section 196.354, RSMo 2016.* Original rule filed March 18, 2024, effective Nov. 30, 2024. *Original authority: 196.354, RSMo 1955, amended 1995.