Sec. 22-31. Inspection. Certification.
Sec. 22-31. Inspection. Certification. (a) The Commissioner of Agriculture or
any person authorized by him shall have free access at all reasonable hours to any
building or other place wherein it is reasonably believed that farm products labeled in
accordance with official grades established and promulgated by the Commissioner of
Agriculture are being marketed or held for commercial purposes, shall have power to
open any bag, crate or other container of such farm products and examine the contents
thereof and may, upon tendering the market price, take samples therefrom.
(b) The Commissioner of Agriculture may inspect farm products to establish official
grades or standards and certify the quality and condition of such products and other
material facts relative thereto. Certificates issued in pursuance of such inspection and
executed by the Commissioner of Agriculture or any person authorized by him shall
state the date and place of inspection, the grade, condition and approximate quality of
the farm products inspected and any other pertinent facts that said commissioner may
require. Such a certificate and all federal certificates relative to the condition or quality
of such farm products shall be prima facie evidence in all courts of the state of the facts
required to be stated therein.
(1949 Rev., S. 3069; 1959, P.A. 412, S. 7; 637, S. 2; 1961, P.A. 67; 1971, P.A. 872, S. 446, 448; P.A. 85-204, S. 3, 14;
June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, S. 146(e); P.A. 04-189, S. 1.)
History: 1959 acts divided section into Subsecs., transferring access right in Subsec. (a) from commissioner of agriculture to commissioner of consumer protection and rephrasing Subsec. (b) to replace references to inspector employees of
agriculture commissioner with references to commissioner himself and later replaced commissioner of agriculture with
commissioner of agriculture, conservation and natural resources; 1961 act replaced commissioner of agriculture, conservation and natural resources with commissioner of agriculture and natural resources; 1971 act replaced commissioner of
agriculture and natural resources with commissioner of agriculture; P.A. 85-204 transferred authority re free access from
the commissioner of consumer protection to the commissioner of agriculture; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 replaced Commissioner of Agriculture with Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective July 1, 2004; P.A. 04-189
repealed Sec. 146 of June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, thereby reversing the merger of the Departments of Agriculture and
Consumer Protection, effective June 1, 2004.