Missouri Revised Statutes Title XVII. Agriculture and Animals § 264.041. Inspections, fee--notice--entry--specialized examinations by department of agriculture

1. Inspection of bees for bee diseases or pests shall be made by the director or an authorized inspector upon the request of any beekeeper, directed to the office of the director, for inspection of bees owned or managed by that beekeeper. A fee shall be charged which is sufficient to cover the cost of the inspection plus the mileage of the inspector at the rate then authorized by the commissioner of administration for reimbursement of expenses of state employees. Fees shall be paid by the owner of the bees at the time of inspection and are not contingent upon certification.

2. The director, by request or suspicion of disease or pests, may inspect or cause to be inspected any apiary or hive. For purposes of inspection, and only when the director has probable cause to believe that the bees of the owner to be inspected are diseased or infested with pests, the director or any authorized inspector shall, after written notice to the owner stating the reasons for such inspection, have free access to all apiaries, buildings or places where bees or beekeeping equipment are kept or stored, and shall have authority to open and examine all beekeeping equipment wherein such bees or honey are kept and stored. Once written notice of inspection has been given to an owner as provided in this subsection, that owner shall not move any hive or hives or bees or bee equipment from the time he receives such notice until either thirty days thereafter or until the time he receives the results of the inspection, whichever occurs first. Any bees kept in anything other than a hive with removable frames such as box hives or other receptacles, natural or artificial, shall be deemed impossible to properly inspect, unless owner of said bees removes the brood or makes accessible for the director or his inspectors to inspect such brood. If the owner refuses or fails to remove the brood or make it accessible for inspection by the director or his inspectors, the director may order the colonies to be transferred to removable frame hives within six months. In the event the order is not carried out, the colonies in other than removable frame hives may be destroyed by the director or his inspectors. No fee will be charged for nonrequested inspection and no certificate will be issued for this type of inspection.

3. Persons desiring to have specialized examinations conducted by the Missouri department of agriculture to determine freedom from diseases or pests may be charged a fee sufficient to cover the cost of such examination.

4. The director, by request or suspicion of the existence of the pest Apis mellifera scutellata (Africanized bee), may inspect or cause to be inspected any property after written notice is sent to the property owner. Any bees found to be Africanized bees may be exterminated.