(a) Subject to the rights and procedures established pursuant to Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 11400) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, and in accordance with regulations adopted pursuant to this code, the State Veterinarian shall impose a quarantine if he or she believes, upon any basis reasonably supportable by standard epidemiological practice or credible scientific research, that a population of domestic animals or food product from animals has contracted, or may carry, an illness, infection, pathogen, contagion, toxin, or condition that, without intervention, could transmit an illness that could kill or seriously damage other animals or humans, including, in addition to the original condition, those clinically plausible secondary illnesses, infections, pathogens, contagions, toxins, or conditions arising from the effects of the original.
(b) (1) Because the authority conferred by this section is designed to protect the health and safety of the citizens of this state, the authority shall be interpreted broadly to give full effect to the purpose of protecting the public health and safety and shall be construed to include the imposition of quarantines in the circumstances of natural disaster, whether occurring or imminent, or declared emergencies.
(2) In furtherance of the objectives of the quarantine, the State Veterinarian may impose restrictions not only on the affected animals themselves and the uses to which those animals may be put, but on products produced from, by, or with those animals in order to minimize the risk or spread of food-borne illness.
(3) The State Veterinarian’s quarantine powers set forth in this section expressly include the power to order movement, segregation, isolation, or destruction of animals or food products, as well as the power to hold animals or food products in place.
(Amended by Stats. 1999, Ch. 447, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2000.)