§ 354.242 Cleaning of equipment and utensils.

Equipment and utensils used for preparing or otherwise handling any product shall be kept clean and in a sanitary condition and in good repair. (a) Pens shall be cleaned regularly and the manure removed from the plant daily. (b) All equipment and utensils used in the killing and skinning rooms shall be thoroughly washed and cleaned after each day's operation. The eviscerating, chilling, and packing room and equipment and utensils used therein shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition. (c) Graders' and packers' gloves and grading bins shall be washed daily and used only for grading or packing, as the case may be. (d) All crates or pens used for transporting live rabbits to the plant shall be cleaned regularly. (e) Chilling vats or tanks, if practicable, shall be emptied after each use. They shall be thoroughly cleaned once daily and, after each cleaning operation, they shall be sanitized with such compounds or by such methods as may be approved or prescribed by the Administrator. (f) When synchronized overhead conveyors and tray conveyors are used, the trays shall be completely washed and sanitized after being automatically emptied of inedible viscera. (g) When a conveyor tray operation is used, each carcass shall be eviscerated in an individual metal tray of seamless construction, and such trays shall be completely washed and sanitized after each use. (h) Tables, shelves, bins, trays, pans, knives, and all other tools and equipment used in the preparation of ready-to-cook rabbits shall be kept clean and sanitary at all times. Cleaned equipment and utensils shall be drained on racks and shall not be nested. (i) Drums, cans, tanks, vats, and other receptacles used to hold or transport ready-to-cook rabbits shall be kept in a clean and sanitary condition.