(a) When, in an official establishment, any inspected and passed product is placed in any receptacle or covering constituting an immediate container, there shall be affixed to such container a label as described in § 317.2 except that the following do not have to bear such a label.

(1) Wrappings of dressed carcasses and primal parts in an unprocessed state, bearing the official inspection legend, if such wrappings are intended solely to protect the product against soiling or excessive drying during transportation or storage, and the wrappings bear no information except company brand names, trade marks, or code numbers which do not include any information required by § 317.2;

(2) Uncolored transparent coverings, such as cellophane, which bear no written, printed, or graphic matter and which enclose any unpackaged or packaged product bearing all markings required by part 316 of this subchapter which are clearly legible through such coverings;

(3) Animal and transparent artificial casings bearing only the markings required by part 316 of this subchapter;

(4) Stockinettes used as “operative devices”, such as those applied to cured meats in preparation for smoking, whether or not such stockinettes are removed following completion of the operations for which they were applied;

(5) Containers such as boil-in bags, trays of frozen dinners, and pie pans which bear no information except company brand names, trademarks, code numbers, directions for preparation and serving suggestions, and which are enclosed in a consumer size container that bears a label as described in § 317.2;

(6) Containers of products passed for cooking or refrigeration and moved from an official establishment under § 311.1 of this subchapter.

(b) Folders and similar coverings made of paper or similar materials, whether or not they completely enclose the product and which bear any written, printed, or graphic matter, shall bear all features required on a label for an immediate container.

(c) No covering or other container which bears or is to bear a label shall be filled, in whole or in part, except with product which has been inspected and passed in compliance with the regulations in this subchapter, which is not adulterated and which is strictly in accordance with the statements on the label. No such container shall be filled, in whole or in part, and no label shall be affixed thereto, except under supervision of a Program employee.