Authority to refuse or withdraw meat inspection service

(a) The Commissioner is authorized to refuse to provide or to withdraw inspection service under Part 3 of this article and to revoke or suspend any license issued by the Department of Agriculture to any person, firm, or corporation subject to this article who shall violate any of the laws of this state pertaining to the department or any of the rules and regulations of the department promulgated pursuant to such laws, or who is unfit to engage in any business requiring inspection under Part 3 of this article because the applicant or recipient has been convicted in any federal or state court of: (1) Any felony; or (2) More than one violation of any law, other than a felony, based upon the acquiring, handling, or distributing of unwholesome, mislabeled, or deceptively packaged food or upon fraud in connection with transactions in food. (b) This Code section shall not affect in any way other provisions of this article for withdrawal of inspection services under Part 3 of this article from establishments failing to maintain sanitary conditions or to destroy condemned carcasses, parts, meat, or meat food products. (c) For the purpose of this Code section, a person shall be deemed to be responsibly connected with the business if he was a partner, officer, director, holder, or owner of 10 percent or more of its voting stock or an employee in a managerial or executive capacity. History. Ga. L. 1969, p. 1028, § 21; Ga. L. 2023, p. 730, § 4(b)(4)/HB 475, effective July 1, 2023. The 2023 amendment, effective July 1, 2023, part of an Act to revise, modern- ize, and correct the Code, substituted “Part 3 of this article” for “Code Sections 26-2-100 through 26-2-115” twice in subsection (a) and in subsection (b).