§16-7-3. Inspection and analysis of foods and drugs; certificate of result as prima facie evidence in prosecution.

Whenever the state health officer, the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy, or any county or municipal health officer has reason to believe that any food or drug manufactured for sale, offered for sale, or sold within this state, is adulterated, the state health officer or Board of Pharmacy, by its authorized agents, or such county or municipal health officer shall have the power, and it shall be his or her duty, to enter, during the usual hours of business, into any creamery, factory, store, salesroom, drugstore, laboratory or other place where he or she has reason to believe such food or drug is manufactured, prepared, sold or offered for sale, within the county or municipality, as the same may be, and to open any case, tub, jar, bottle or package containing, or supposed to contain, any such food or drug, and take a specimen thereof for examination and analysis. If less than a whole package is taken, the specimen shall be sealed and properly prepared for shipment to the person who shall make the analysis hereinafter provided for. No whole or less than a whole package taken and prepared for shipment shall be opened before it has been received by the analyst aforesaid.

It shall be the duty of a qualified chemist to test and analyze any such specimen, to record the result of his or her analysis among the records of the department, and to certify such findings to the state health officer, the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy, or to the county or municipal health officers, as the case may be. If the analysis indicates that the said food or drug is adulterated, a certificate of such result, sworn to by the person making the analysis, who shall also state in his or her certificate the reasonable cost and expense of such analysis, shall be prima facie evidence of such adulteration in any prosecution under this article.