(1) The following
words or terms shall have the meaning set forth herein when used in these rules
and regulations:
(a)
"Handle" or "Ship" means to package, load,
sell, transport, or in any other way to place Vidalia onions, or cause Vidalia
onions to be placed, in the current of commerce within the production area or
between the production area and any point outside thereof. Such term shall not
include the transportation, sale, or delivery of field-run Vidalia onions to a
person within the production area for the purpose of having such Vidalia onions
prepared for market. Nothing contained in this definition shall authorize the
repacking of Vidalia onions except as specifically authorized under Paragraph
40-7-8-.08(1)(f)
2. of these rules.
(b) "Handler" is synonymous
with "Shipper" and means any person within the Vidalia onion
production area (except a common contract carrier of Vidalia onions
owned by another person) who handles Vidalia onions, or causes Vidalia
onions to be handled.
(c)
"Person" means any association, individual, partnership,
corporation or any other legal entity.
(d) "Producer" is synonymous
with "grower" and means any person engaged in a proprietary
capacity in the production of Vidalia onions for market.
(e) "Producer-Handler" means
a producer who handles Vidalia onions.
(f) "Vidalia Onion Advisory
Panel" means the advisory panel established pursuant to Code Section
2-14-138.
(g) "Vidalia Onion Variety"
means varieties of Allium Cepa of the hybrid granex, granex
parentage or other similar varieties. The Commissioner may limit the usage of
certain varieties or authorize the inclusion of new varieties based upon
recommendation of the Director of the Experiment Stations of the College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences of the University of Georgia.
(h) "Vidalia Onion" means
any onion of the type defined in paragraph (g) of this section and produced in
the "Vidalia Onion Production Area" as defined in paragraph (i) of this
section.
(i) "Vidalia Onion
Production Area" means a specific production area which encompasses only that
part of the state particularly described as follows:
Beginning at a point in Laurens County where U. S. Highway
441 intersects Highway 16; thence continue southerly along U. S. Highway 441 to
a point where it intersects the southern boundary of Laurens County; thence
southwesterly along the border of Laurens County to a point where it intersects
the county road known as Jay Bird Springs Road; thence southeasterly along Jay
Bird Springs Road to a point where U. S. Highway 23 intersects the western
border of Telfair County; thence southwesterly following the western and
southern county border of Telfair County to a point where it intersects with
Jeff Davis County; thence following the southern border of Jeff Davis County to
a point where it intersects the western border of Bacon County; thence
southerly and easterly along the border of Bacon county to a point where it
intersects Georgia State Road 32; thence easterly along Georgia State Road 32
to Seaboard Coastline Railroad; thence northeasterly along the tracks of
Seaboard Coastline Railroad to a point where they intersect Long County and
Liberty County; thence northwesterly and northerly along the southwestern
border of Liberty county to a point where the border of Liberty County
intersects the southern border of Evans County; thence northeasterly along the
eastern border of Evans County to the intersection of the Bulloch County
border; thence northeasterly along the Bulloch County border to a point where
it intersects with the Ogeechee River; thence northerly along the main channel
of the Ogeechee River to a point where it intersects with the southeastern
border of Screven County; thence northeasterly along the southeasterly border
of Screven County to the main channel of the Savannah River; thence northerly
along the main channel of the Savannah River to a point where the northwestern
boundary of Hampton County, South Carolina intersects the Savannah River;
thence due west to a point where State Road 24 intersects Brannen Bridge Road;
thence westerly along Brannen Bridge Road to a point where it intersects with
State Road 21; thence westerly along State Road 21 to the intersection of State
Road 17; thence westerly along State Road 17 to the intersection of State Road
56 and southerly to the northern border of Emanuel County; thence westerly and
southerly along the boundary of Emanuel County to a point where it intersects
the Treutlen County border; thence southerly to a point where the Treutlen
County border intersects Interstate Highway 16; thence westerly to the point of
beginning in Laurens County.
(j) "Registration" means a
process whereby persons desiring to produce and/or pack onions for marketing as
Vidalia onions are registered by the Department as Vidalia Onion Producers
and/or Packers. Nothing contained in this definition shall authorize the
repacking of Vidalia onions except as specifically authorized under Paragraph
40-7-8-.08(1)(f)
2. of these rules.
(k) "Department" means the
Department of Agriculture of the State of Georgia.
(l) "Commissioner" means the
Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of Georgia.
(m) "Label" means a display
of written, printed or graphic matter upon the immediate container of Vidalia
onions.
(n)
"Labeling" means all labels and other written, printed or
graphic matter, including advertising, upon an article or any of its containers
or wrappers, or accompanying such article.
(o) "Georgia Federal-State Shipping
Point Inspection Service" or "Inspection Service" is
the Corporation authorized by the Department to conduct inspection,
certification, and identification of the class, quantity, quality and condition
of agricultural products in Georgia.
(p) "Pack" means the initial
placement of Vidalia onions into properly labeled containers by grower/packers
or packers within the Vidalia onion production area only who have been properly
certified and registered by the Department.
(q) "Repack/Repacking" means
the removing of Vidalia onions by any individual from initially-packed
containers, as described in (p) above of this subparagraph, and subsequently
placing those same onions into any other like or unlike containers bearing the
registered U.S. Certification Mark "VIDALIA®".
(r) "Packing Date" means the
first day on which Vidalia Onions® may be packed and shipped into
commerce.
(s) "Green
onion" means any onion which has been harvested young before the bulb
has developed or enlarged, and which still has the green tubular top
intact.
(t) "Other Yellow
Onion" means any yellow onion that is not of the type defined in
paragraph (g) of this section and/or is grown outside of the Vidalia Onion
Production Area as defined in paragraph (i) of this section.
(u) "Transition Period"
means a defined period of time during which other yellow onions and Vidalia
Onions are permitted to be in the same facility.
(v) "Packing Facility" means
a building, shed, or other structure in, under or around which onions intended
for the fresh market will or may be graded, packed, stored, loaded, or
unloaded. Separate businesses operating and/or activities taking place under a
common roof or within a common structure shall be considered to function as a
single packing facility for purposes of these rules regardless of whether said
businesses or activities are entirely divided by walls or other structures
designed to prevent the movement of people and/or products between areas
contained under the common roof or within the common structure.
