BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1390
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Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Susan Talamantes Eggman, Chair
AB 1390 (Committee on Agriculture) - As Amended: April 16,
2013
SUBJECT : Milk products: pasteurization: goat milk.
SUMMARY : Adds curds made from goat milk, for the purpose of
making goat cheese, to the list of items inspected from on-site
pasteurization, as long as the curds have been pasteurized, as
specified, at a food facility registered with the United States
Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Specifically, this bill :
1)Exempts curds made from goat milk for the purpose of making
cheese, with the exception of cottage cheese, from the
requirement of on-site pasteurization as long as curds are
produced at one of the following.
a) A licensed milk products plant; or,
b) A milk products plant that meets sanitation standards
similar to California standards and that is registered with
FDA as a food facility.
2)Makes technical and conforming changes, including deleting
out-of-date language.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires that all milk, and milk products, be pasteurized at
the plant where those products are processed and packaged.
a) Exempts certain products, including licensed milk
products plants that are used exclusively for the
preparation of ice cream, and products sold at soft-serve
establishments, such as frozen yogurts and desserts.
2)Defines a milk product plant to mean any place which engages
in the business of handling, receiving, manufacturing,
freezing, processing, or packaging milk, or any product of
milk, or engages in the business of manufacturing, freezing,
or processing imitation ice cream or imitation ice milk, as
specified.
AB 1390
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3)Defines pasteurized, ultrapasteurized, and aseptically
processed, as they relate to milk products.
4)Specifies milk products plant sanitation standards.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. Legislative Counsel had keyed this bill
non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : Current law requires that all dairy ingredients be
pasteurized at the plant where a dairy product is processed and
packaged, unless otherwise authorized. The goat cheese industry
in California, and throughout the United States, is limited in
its ability to grow local goat milk supplies on a year-round
basis to meet demand for their products.
Due to the limited supply of goat milk, goat cheese-makers enter
into relationships with other plants which can provide the
necessary amount of goat milk ingredients (curds) to make their
goat cheese and fill demand. These goat milk processors are
overseen by FDA to ensure product safety and quality. This use
of curds sourced outside the plant where goat cheese product is
processed and packaged is a common practice across the United
States.
To ensure that the law is being followed correctly, the
California Department of Food and Agriculture and goat
cheese-makers have worked on an exception that both ensure an
adequate supply of curds and ensures the safety and quality of
the curds shipped to goat cheese plants. This bill achieves this
goal by adding curds used for the production of goat cheese to
the list of products that do not need to be pasteurized on site,
as long as the milk product's source is pasteurized as
specified, and is registered by FDA.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Cypress Grove Chevre
Dairy Institute
Opposition
None on file.
AB 1390
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Analysis Prepared by : Victor Francovich / AGRI. / (916)
319-2084