§ 500-B — Licensure

* § 500-b. Licensure. No person shall maintain or operate a retail\nfood store, food service establishment or food warehouse unless such\nestablishment is licensed pursuant to the provisions of this article,\nprovided, however, that establishments registered, permitted or licensed\nby the department pursuant to other provisions of this chapter, under\npermit and inspection by the state department of health or by a local\nhealth agency which maintains a program certified and approved by the\nstate commissioner of health, or subject to inspection by the United\nStates department of agriculture pursuant to the federal meat, poultry\nor egg inspection programs, shall be exempt from licensure under this\narticle.\n 1. Application for licensure of a retail food store, food service\nestablishment or food warehouse shall be made, upon a form prescribed by\nthe commissioner, on or before December first of every other year for\nthe registration period beginning January first following.\n 2. Upon submission of a completed application, together with the\napplicable licensing fee, the commissioner may issue a license to the\nretail food store, food service establishment or food warehouse\ndescribed in the application for two years from the date of issuance\npursuant to the provisions of this article.\n 3. The license fee shall be two hundred fifty dollars provided,\nhowever, that food warehouses shall pay a license fee of four hundred\ndollars.\n 4. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, the commissioner shall,\nupon submission of a completed application for a new license by an\napplicant that is a chain store, as defined by subdivision five of\nsection two hundred fifty-one-z-two of this chapter, issue such license\nfor a period ending on the same date as the licenses of the other chain\nstores that are a part of the same network.\n * NB Effective February 13, 2026\n