When used in this title, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings, respectively, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) PERSON. An individual, a partnership, a corporation or two or more individuals having a joint or common interest.

(2) SELL or SOLD. The sale, keeping for sale, offer or exposure for sale, having in possession for sale, delivery or distribution in this state of the product or article in question.

(3) COMMISSIONER. The Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries.

(4) COOPERATIVE. A cooperative marketing association for marketing of farm products.

If it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries that the violation of any of the provisions of this title is properly a subject of interstate commerce or otherwise comes under the supervision and jurisdiction of the United States, then the Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries or his agent shall certify the matter to the proper federal authority.

When construing and enforcing the provisions of this title or any other provision of this Code or other statute which the Commissioner, Department or Board of Agriculture and Industries is authorized or directed to administer or enforce, the act, omission or failure of any officer, agent or other person acting for or employed by any individual, partnership, corporation or by two or more individuals having a joint or common interest shall in every case also be deemed to be the act or omission or failure of such individual, partnership, corporation or of two or more individuals having a joint or common interest.

The having in possession of any article, substance, material or product, the sale of which is regulated under the provisions of this title or any other provision of this Code or other statute which the Commissioner, Department or Board of Agriculture and Industries is authorized or directed to administer or enforce, by any person who manufactures, sells, keeps for sale, offers or exposes for sale, serves, distributes or delivers the same shall be prima facie evidence of having in possession with intent to sell, except, that this section or any of the penalties set forth in this title or other such statute shall not apply to any common carrier when said article, substance, material or product was received by said carrier for transportation in the ordinary course of business and without actual knowledge of the adulteration, misbranding or under standard grade, weight or measure claimed.

Any person who knowingly takes or receives any cotton or other farm produce upon which there is a lien for rent or advances or both, or the proceeds thereof, and who fails to apply the same to the payment of the rent or the discharge of the lien, whether the same is in the hands of a third party or not, shall, on conviction, be punished as if he had stolen the same.

(a) It shall be the duty of the Governor, the Board of Trustees of Auburn University, the director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station System, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries and all other agencies of the state engaged in agricultural work or in its connected services to cooperate and encourage the agricultural work and development of the state and to maintain a helpful, sympathetic and cooperative relationship in carrying out this work.

(b) Such meetings as may be desired or are deemed helpful by the Governor, the board of trustees, the commissioner or the director are hereby authorized, and they may call into consultation any head of any department or institution of the state or any professor or scientist to secure technical, scientific or practical information for use in any one or more of the agricultural fields of endeavor. It shall be the duty of such person, when so requested, to attend any meeting and to furnish such information, facts and data in his possession as may be requested for the coordination of the work of all agencies and the advancement of agriculture in Alabama.

In the event of improper or illegal collection of any license or permit fee, or any other sum made in an effort to enforce any of the provisions of this title or any other provision of this Code or other statute which the Commissioner, Department or Board of Agriculture and Industries is authorized or directed to administer or enforce, either as a result of a mistake of law or fact, upon the written application of the party in interest, the comptroller, upon requisition of the commissioner approved by the Attorney General that such sum was improperly or illegally collected and paid into the Treasury to the credit of the Agricultural Fund, shall draw his warrant in favor of the party in interest upon the Treasurer for the amount thus certified as improperly or illegally collected and paid into the Treasury to the credit of said Agricultural Fund, and the same shall be charged to and paid out of the particular fund into which it was originally paid. The application for refund provided for in this section must be filed with the Commissioner within two years from the date on which the amount was improperly or illegally collected, and no amounts shall be refunded unless the application therefor is filed within the time limit prescribed in this section.

(a) It is specifically forbidden for any person knowingly to purchase or to authorize or requisition the purchase of beef other than beef raised and produced within the United States when such purchase is to be paid by the state government, any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof out of public funds; provided, however, that the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to canned meat which is not available from a domestic source and which is not processed in the United States.

(b) Any purchase which is made in violation of the provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall be considered an illegal and unauthorized expenditure of public funds.

Any person violating any provision of this title, or the rules and regulations issued thereunder shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, unless otherwise provided in this title, shall be fined not more than $500.00, and may also be sentenced to hard labor for not more than six months.