Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 94, § 77H

No person shall buy, sell, expose for sale, give away, deliver, transport, ship, carry or have in his possession any lobster meat or crab meat after the same has been taken from the shell, except as hereinafter provided. Any lobster meat unlawfully sold, given away, shipped, bought, transported or possessed shall be liable to seizure and may be confiscated. The foregoing shall not apply to such lobster meat or crab meat in the possession of a common carrier for transportation and which is marked as provided in section forty-seven of chapter one hundred and thirty or of which it has no notice; nor to canned lobster meat or crab meat when certified, to the satisfaction of the commissioner of public health, by the board of health or a body having similar powers of the municipality or other governmental unit, where canned, to have been in suitable condition for human consumption when canned, and to have been canned under healthful conditions, and so as to insure the continuance, until use, of such condition; nor to such meat sold for food by a licensed victualler if such meat has been obtained from a dealer holding a permit as hereinafter provided; nor to such meat removed from the shell on the premises where it is to be eaten; nor to such meat removed from the shell by a wholesale or retail dealer in lobster, or edible crabs, at his regular place of business therefor if said dealer has a written permit from the director of marine fisheries in the department of natural resources for the sale and delivery of such lobster or crab meat and if such meat is so removed or sold under such conditions and regulations as the commissioner of public health shall prescribe, and if such premises are at all reasonable times open to the inspection of the commissioner, his agents or inspectors. No permit shall be required for the resale of such meat so long as it remains in the original unbroken package; provided that such package is clearly labeled with the words “lobster meat removed under permit No. ______”, followed by the number of the permit under which said lobster meat was removed. Such a permit may be granted upon written application to the said director and the payment of a fee of ten dollars, shall expire on December thirty-first next succeeding the date of issue, and shall be revoked by the said director upon the request of the commissioner of public health for the violation by the holder thereof of any rule or regulation.