BILL NUMBER: SB 201 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 5, 2008
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 24, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 5, 2007
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 2, 2007
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 12, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Senator Florez
( Principal coauthor: Senator
Perata )
( Principal coauthor: Assembly Member
Berryhill )
FEBRUARY 7, 2007
An act to add Article 5 (commencing with Section 113500)
and Article 6 (commencing with Section 113600) to Chapter 11 of Part
6 of, and to add Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 113665) to Part
6 of, Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to
agriculture. An act to amend Sections 35781, 35861,
and 35891 of, and to add Sections 33454 and 33455 to, the Food and
Agricultural Code, relating to milk.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 201, as amended, Florez. Agriculture: produce safety.
Dairy farms: raw milk: testing: standards.
Existing law requires dairy farms to comply with various
sanitation and cleanliness requirements and provides various safety
and cleanliness standards for milk.
This bill would require a dairy farm that produces and processes
raw milk to develop and maintain an individualized hazard analysis
critical control points plan for each critical process in the
production of raw milk on the dairy farm, and would require the plan
to be approved by the Department of Food and Agriculture and the
State Department of Public Health.
This bill would prohibit a dairy farm that produces and processes
raw milk from receiving any raw milk from any other source for
purposes of processing that raw milk, except as specified.
This bill would require a dairy farm that produces and processes
raw milk to have its raw milk tested twice per week by a state
accredited laboratory for certain bacteria and would require the test
results to be transmitted electronically to the dairy farm, the
Department of Food and Agriculture, and, upon request, the State
Department of Public Health. The bill would provide that, except for
the test results of a certain bacteria, the data and results from the
tests shall be used for informational purposes only and shall not be
used for enforcement purposes.
Existing law prohibits market milk to contain, among other things,
more than 10 coliform bacteria per milliliter if it is to be sold as
raw milk to the consumer.
This bill would delete that microbial standard.
Existing law provides that guaranteed raw milk and grade A raw
milk are both market milk which conform to certain specified minimum
requirements, including, among others, that it be cooled, as
specified, and so maintained until it is delivered to the consumer,
at which time it is to contain no more than a certain amount of
bacteria per milliliter or more than 10 coliform bacteria per
milliliter.
This bill would delete the requirement relating to coliform
bacteria from these standards. The bill would additionally require
the raw milk to be sampled and tested at least once per month by the
Department of Food and Agriculture for pathogens that cause illness
in humans, as provided.
Existing law provides that any violation of these provisions is a
misdemeanor.
Because this bill would create a new crime and change the terms of
a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Existing law provides that the Secretary of Food and Agriculture
shall establish, by regulation, uniform standards for field crop
producers, establish inspection districts within the state, and
provide sampling, inspection, and certification services for field
crop products within the state, as specified. Existing law also
states legislative findings and declarations that the people have a
primary interest in the sanitary conditions under which food crops
are grown and harvested for human consumption and in the health and
related sanitary conditions under which the workers are employed in
the growing and harvesting of food crops.
This bill would require growers, handlers, and processors of leafy
green vegetables to employ a Julian code dated lot numbering system,
or other scientifically validated systems, that allows for each
piece of product they produce, handle, or process to be traced in the
production and distribution chain to or from the field in which it
was grown and the facility in which it was processed, as specified.
This bill would also require growers, handlers, and processors of
leafy green vegetables to establish written procedures employing
their Julian code dated lot numbering system or other scientifically
validated systems to respond to a recall affecting leafy green
vegetables and to initiate a recall of leafy green vegetables grown,
handled, or processed in their field or facility. This bill would
require growers, handlers, and processors of leafy green vegetables
to identify recall coordination teams within their operations that
shall ensure that product can be identified and removed from the
production and distribution chain rapidly and to conduct a periodic
mock recall no less than every 2 years. This bill would also
authorize the State Department of Public Health to adopt regulations
to carry out these provisions.
This bill would also describe various practices that shall not be
engaged in by growers, handlers, shippers, or processors of leafy
green vegetables including using uncomposed, incompletely composed,
or nonthermally treated manure as a fertilizer or soil amendment in
fields, maintaining toilet facilities or other receptacles for human
excreta in fields, using irrigation water that exceeds acceptable
contamination levels, or selling, transferring, or otherwise putting
into the production or distribution chain, any leafy green vegetable
that exceeds acceptable contamination levels, as specified. This bill
would provide that a violation of these provisions, or any
regulation adopted by the State Department of Public Health pursuant
thereto, is subject to a civil fine of up to $10,000 per occurrence,
and in addition, that the State Department of Public Health may
impose a fine not exceeding $25,000 per occurrence.
This bill would also require the State Department of Public Health
to adopt regulations developing Hazard Analysis and Critical Control
Point guidelines, and Good Agricultural Practices for growers,
handlers, shippers, and processors of leafy green vegetables, as
specified. This bill would also require the department to develop
model documents and checklists to assist growers, handlers, shippers,
and processors to comply with these provisions. This bill would
require the department to allow growers, handlers, shippers, and
processors, either individually or as a group, to petition for a
variance permitting the use of alternative Good Agricultural
Practices that provide equivalent consumer protection, as specified.
Existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law,
administered by the State Department of Public Health, contains
various provisions regarding the packaging, labeling, and advertising
of food, drugs, and cosmetics.
This bill would authorize the department to adopt recall and
sanitary regulations necessary to prevent, circumscribe, or eliminate
any condition where any produce or food processed from produce may
carry an illness, infection, pathogen, contagion, toxin, or condition
that, without intervention, could transmit an illness that could
kill or seriously affect the health of humans, as specified.
The bill would also require the State Public Health Officer and
the Department of Food and Agriculture, jointly, to establish and
administer a leafy green vegetable inspection program, as specified.
This bill would authorize the imposition or assessment of civil
penalties for negligent or intentional violation of any state law or
regulation and thereby causes a food-borne illness. This bill would
require that these funds be deposited in the State Department of
Public Health Inspection Fund, which would be created by the bill,
and the moneys in the fund would be used, upon appropriation of the
Legislature, for the inspection program provided for in the bill and
for research purposes.
Because this bill would require local officials to perform
additional duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be
cited, as the Fresh Milk Act of 2008.
SEC. 2. Section 33454 is added to the
Food and Agricultural Code , to read:
33454. (a) A dairy farm that produces and processes raw milk
shall develop and maintain an individualized hazard analysis critical
control points plan for each critical process in the production of
raw milk on the dairy farm. The plan shall be approved by the
department and the State Department of Public Health.
(b) A dairy farm that produces and processes raw milk is
prohibited from receiving any raw milk from any other source for
purposes of processing that raw milk, unless that source is a
California dairy farm that produces and processes raw milk in
accordance with the standards for raw milk as set forth in Chapter 2
(commencing with Section 35751) of Part 2.
SEC. 3. Section 33455 is added to the
Food and Agricultural Code , to read:
33455. (a) A dairy farm that produces and processes raw milk
shall have its raw milk tested twice per week by a state accredited
laboratory for coliform, E. Coli 0157:H7, and standard plate count.
The raw milk shall be tested from the farm bulk tank.
(b) The results of the tests conducted pursuant to subdivision (a)
shall be transmitted electronically by the laboratory to the dairy
farm that is the subject of the tests, the department, and, upon
request, the State Department of Public Health.
(c) Except for the test results for E. Coli 0157:H7, data and
results from the tests conducted pursuant to this section shall be
used for informational purposes only and shall not be used for
enforcement purposes.
SEC. 4. Section 35781 of the Food and
Agricultural Code is amended to read:
35781. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this article, market
milk shall not contain any of the following:
(1) More than 15,000 bacteria per milliliter or more than
10 coliform bacteria per milliliter if to be sold as raw
milk to the consumer.
(2) More than 50,000 bacteria per milliliter if to be sold as raw
milk for pasteurization or more than 750 bacteria per milliliter
after having been subjected to laboratory pasteurization which has a
time-temperature equivalent to that required in Section 34001 before
pasteurization.
(3) More than 15,000 bacteria per milliliter or more than 10
coliform bacteria per milliliter at time of delivery to the consumer,
if pasteurized.
(4) More than 750 coliform bacteria per milliliter in raw milk for
pasteurization. Samples shall be taken while the milk is on the
premises of the producer.
(5) More than 800,000 somatic cells per milliliter, as determined
by direct microscopic somatic cell count, electronic somatic cell
count, or optical somatic cell count. After January 1, 1990, the
maximum somatic cell count shall be 600,000 somatic cells per
milliliter, as determined by the methods specified in this paragraph.
This paragraph does not apply to market goat milk.
(b) The director secretary may, by
regulation, require different standards for raw market milk for
pasteurization from the standards in this section if he or she
determines, after an administrative hearing, that the standards are
necessary to protect or improve milk quality.
SEC. 5. Section 35861 of the Food and
Agricultural Code is amended to read:
35861. Guaranteed raw milk is market milk which
that conforms to all of the following minimum
requirements:
(a) The health of the cows and goats shall be determined at least
once each month by an official representative of an approved milk
inspection service, or a milk inspection service which is established
by the director secretary .
(b) It shall be produced on dairy farms which score not less than
90 percent on the dairy farm scorecard.
(c) The raw milk shall be sampled and tested at least once per
month by the department for pathogens that cause illness in humans,
including, but not limited to, Campylobacter jejuni, E. Coli 0157:H7,
Listeria monocytogenes, and salmonella. The department shall deem
raw milk containing any amount of any pathogen that causes illness in
humans nonconforming. The samples may be taken from any location the
department deems appropriate.
(c)
(d) It shall be bottled on the premises where produced
and delivered in containers which have the pouring lip completely
protected from contamination.
(d)
(e) It shall be cooled as provided in Section 35782,
and so maintained until it is delivered to the consumer, at which
time it shall contain not more than 10,000 bacteria per milliliter
or not more than 10 coliform bacteria per milliliter
.
(e)
(f) It shall be sold to the consumer within 30 hours
after production and labeled to indicate the date of sale to the
consumer.
SEC. 6. Section 35891 of the Food and
Agricultural Code is amended to read:
35891. Grade A raw milk is market milk which
that conforms to all the following minimum requirements:
(a) The health of the cows and goats shall be determined at least
once in two months by an official representative of an approved milk
inspection service, or a milk inspection service which is established
by the director secretary .
(b) It shall be produced on dairy farms that score not less than
90 percent on the dairy farm scorecard.
(c) The raw milk shall be sampled and tested at least once per
month by the department for pathogens that cause illness in humans,
including, but not limited to, Campylobacter jejuni, E. Coli 0157:H7,
Listeria monocytogenes, and salmonella. The department shall deem
raw milk containing any amount of any pathogen that causes illness in
humans nonconforming. The samples may be taken from any location the
department deems appropriate.
(c)
(d) It shall be cooled as provided in Section 35782 and
so maintained until delivered to the consumer, at which time it
shall contain not more than 15,000 bacteria per milliliter
or more than 10 coliform bacteria per milliliter .
SEC. 7. No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local
agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a
new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of
Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a
crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution. All matter omitted in this version of
the bill appears in the bill as amended in the Assembly, 3/24/08.
(JR11)