Md. Code, Agriculture § 4-124
This is the official text of Md. Code, Agriculture § 4-124, part of Maryland’s Code, Agriculture — regulates farming and agricultural commerce.
Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
§4–124.
Official statutory text
(a) The Secretary may detain for no more than 20 days any livestock carcass, part of, or meat food product; any product exempted from the definition of meat food product; or any dead, dying, disabled, or diseased livestock the Secretary finds on premises where it is held for distribution, or during or after distribution, if the article is capable of use as human food and there is reason to suspect that:
(1) It is adulterated or misbranded;
(2) The article has not been inspected pursuant to this subtitle or any other State or federal law; or
(3) The article has been or is intended to be distributed in violation of this subtitle or any other State or federal law.
(b) The article shall be detained pending condemnation proceedings or notification of any federal or other governmental authority having jurisdiction over the article. No person may remove any detained article until the Secretary releases it.
(c) The Secretary may require all official marks to be removed from the article before it is released unless he decides the article is eligible to retain the marks.
(1) It is adulterated or misbranded;
(2) The article has not been inspected pursuant to this subtitle or any other State or federal law; or
(3) The article has been or is intended to be distributed in violation of this subtitle or any other State or federal law.
(b) The article shall be detained pending condemnation proceedings or notification of any federal or other governmental authority having jurisdiction over the article. No person may remove any detained article until the Secretary releases it.
(c) The Secretary may require all official marks to be removed from the article before it is released unless he decides the article is eligible to retain the marks.
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
Need a lawyer in Maryland?
Find a Maryland lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the
Open US Law dataset
(Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine
(Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.