Section 4-4-83. Quarantines; rules and regulations for disease control; confiscation, destruction, or disposal of diseased poultry, eggs, chicks, or stock

   (a) In the control, suppression, prevention, and eradication of poultry diseases, the Commissioner or any duly authorized inspector or employee of the department acting under the authority of this part or any other poultry law of this state is authorized to quarantine any premises or any area when he shall determine that any poultry in such place or places is infected with a contagious or infectious disease, that the unsanitary condition of such place or places might cause the spread of such disease, or that the owner or occupant of such place or places has not observed sanitary practices.

(b) The Commissioner is authorized to promulgate and adopt rules and regulations prescribing sanitary standards and requirements for the prevention, control, suppression, and eradication of poultry diseases in this state. Such regulations shall be no less adequate for the protection of the poultry industry and the public health than those regulations of the secretary of agriculture of the United States.

(c) The Commissioner is authorized, in his discretion, to confiscate, destroy, or otherwise dispose of any poultry, hatching eggs, chicks, or breeding stock which is infected with any contagious or infectious diseases.

Code 1981, § 4-4-83, enacted by Ga. L. 1987, p. 525, § 1; Ga. L. 2013, p. 141, § 4/HB 79.