§ 128-a. Licenses. 1. No person shall manufacture any commercial feed in this state unless such person holds a license issued therefor by the commissioner. Each application for a license shall be made on a form supplied by the department and shall contain such information as may be required by the department. A license issued on or before the thirtieth of June will expire on the thirty-first of December of the year of its issuance, and if issued between July first and December thirty-first, will expire on the thirty-first day of December in the year following its issuance. Renewal applications shall be made annually on a form prescribed by the commissioner and submitted no later than thirty days prior to the expiration of the existing license. 2. The commissioner may deny any application for a license or revoke any license when granted, after written notice to the applicant and an opportunity to be heard, when:

(a) any statement in the application or upon which it was issued is or was false or misleading;

(b) facilities of the applicant are not maintained in a manner as required by rules and regulations duly promulgated by the commissioner;

(c) the maintenance and operation of the establishment of the applicant is such that the commercial feed produced therein is or may be adulterated, misbranded, or not maintained in any manner as required by this article;

(d) the applicant or licensee, or an officer, director, partner or holder of ten per centum or more of the voting stock of the applicant or licensee, has failed to comply with any of the provisions of this article or rules and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto; or

(e) the applicant or licensee is a partnership or corporation and any individual holding any position or interest or power of control therein has previously been responsible in whole or in part for any act on account of which an application for licensure may be denied or a license revoked pursuant to the provisions of this article. 3. Inspection in accordance with section one hundred thirty-five-a of this article, the results of which establish compliance with the provisions of this article, shall precede issuance of a license or renewal thereof under this section. 4. Upon validation by the commissioner, the application shall become the license of the person. 5. The commissioner shall provide a copy of the license to the licensee. The commissioner shall also retain a copy of the license. 6. No licensee shall publish or advertise the sale of any commercial feed unless the publication or advertisement is accompanied by such licensee's license number. 7. Commercial feed licenses shall be conspicuously displayed on the premises so that they may be readily seen by officers and employees of the department. 8. Notwithstanding the definition of commercial feed under subdivision seven of section one hundred twenty-eight of this article, the provisions of this section shall not apply to a person who conducts a business of selling pet food and specialty pet food.