SECTIONS 35921-35928 - California Statutes

FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE

SECTION 35921-35928

35921. Certified milk is market milk which conforms to the rules,
regulations, methods, and standards for the production and
distribution of certified milk adopted by the county milk commission
established in a county pursuant to this article.

35922. Certified milk shall bear the certification of a milk
commission which shall be appointed as provided by this article by
the board of supervisors in any county in which certified milk was
produced on January 1, 1968. The board of supervisors of any other
county may create a commission.

35923. A county milk commission shall consist of six members who
reside in the county where the commission is located and who shall be
appointed by the board of supervisors for a term of four years and
shall be eligible for reappointment. The members shall be appointed
as follows:
(a) A physician who is a member of a county medical association
organized under and approved by the Medical Society of the State of
California.
(b) A physician nominated by the county health department.
(c) A veterinarian, who shall be a member of the county or
regional veterinarian association.
(d) A physician nominated by a producer or producers of certified
milk in the county.
(e) A physician nominated by the American Association of Medical
Milk Commissions, Incorporated.
(f) A public member, appointed by the board of supervisors.
If no nomination is made by a group so authorized to nominate a
member under subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, the board of
supervisors shall appoint a person who is a member of any of the
designated organizations authorized to nominate members.

35924. A county milk commission shall adopt rules, regulations, and
standards governing the production, distribution, and sale of
certified milk, including unpasteurized milk, as it deems necessary
to protect public health and safety.
The rules, regulations, and standards adopted by a county milk
commission shall conform as nearly as practicable to, or may be more
restrictive than, the rules, regulations, and standards for the
production, distribution, and sale of milk, including unpasteurized
milk, adopted by the American Association of Medical Milk
Commissions.

35924.5. A county milk commission shall give reasonable notice to
the public of its meetings, and shall hold its public hearings in
public buildings.
Members of the commission shall receive twenty-five dollars ($25)
per diem for each day spent on official business of the commission,
payable from the fees collected pursuant to this article. No member
of the commission shall travel beyond the boundaries of the state on
official business without prior approval of the county board of
supervisors.

35925. A county milk commission shall certify milk, including
unpasteurized milk, for any applicant for certification whose milk
complies with the rules, regulations, and standards for production,
distribution and sale of milk adopted by the commission and
prescribed in this code, irrespective of whether the milk is produced
in the county in which the commission is located or in a contiguous
county, so long as there is not a milk commission located in such a
contiguous county. Provided, however, that the power of a milk
commission to certify milk produced in the contiguous county shall
terminate at such time as a milk commission is created in such
contiguous county.
Nothing in this section shall affect any milk inspection,
including an approved milk inspection service pursuant to Chapter 4
(commencing with Section 33051) of this part or any other inspection,
for milk which is produced in such contiguous county and certified
by the commission.

35926. A county milk commission may establish such fees, and expend
funds derived therefrom, as are reasonably necessary to defray the
costs of certifying milk.

35927. A county milk commission may conduct any tests that it finds
are reasonably necessary to carry out the purposes of this article
and may employ personnel to conduct such tests and for such other
duties as the commission deems necessary.
All applicants for certification shall submit samples for testing
when requested to do so by the commission.

35928. (a) When the director, any health officer acting as an agent
of the director, or a milk inspection officer acting as an agent of
the director having jurisdiction, determines that the oral ingestion
by a human being of any raw milk or certified raw milk supply has
caused disease in a human being, he shall prohibit the use, sale, or
disposal of such milk, except by a method approved by the director,
until such cause has been corrected or eliminated. Application may be
made by the director or any such officer to the superior court of
the county where the supply is produced or stored in order to obtain
an injunction prohibiting the use, sale, or disposal of such milk. If
the court determines that it is a reasonable medical probability
that the ingestion by a human being of such milk supply was the
proximate cause of a case of disease in such human being and that the
milk supply is unsafe for human consumption, the court shall take
such action as is necessary to enforce the order. When the court
thereafter determines that it is a reasonable medical probability
that the ingestion by a human being of such milk supply will not be
the proximate cause of a case of disease in a human being and that
the milk supply is safe for human consumption, such order of
prohibition shall be dissolved.
(b) When the director, any health officer acting as an agent of
the director, or a milk inspection officer acting as an agent of the
director having jurisdiction, has good cause to believe, as a result
of either a laboratory test by a laboratory certified by the
department or a recognized test, on the animal or the milk from the
animal or the herd, that a case of typhoid fever, salmonella
infection, bacillary dysentery, diphtheria, respiratory streptococcal
infection, brucellosis, or tuberculosis, is present in one or more
cows or in the milk of one or more cows of any dairy herd, he shall
prohibit the use, sale, or disposal of the raw milk or certified raw
milk from the herd containing the diseased cow or cows, except by a
method approved by the director, until such cause has been corrected
or eliminated. Application may be made by the director or any such
officer to the superior court of the county where the milk supply is
produced or stored in order to obtain an injunction prohibiting the
use, sale, or disposal of such milk. If the court determines that it
is a reasonable medical probability that such disease is present in
the milk of one or more cows of any dairy herd and that the milk
supply is unsafe for human consumption, the court shall take such
action as is necessary to enforce the order. When the court
thereafter determines that it is a reasonable medical probability
that such disease is no longer present on the premises of such dairy
and that the milk supply is safe for human consumption, such order of
prohibition shall be dissolved.
(c) When the director, any health officer acting as an agent of
the director, or a milk inspection officer acting as an agent of the
director, has good cause to believe, as a result of a laboratory test
by a laboratory certified by the department or a recognized test, on
the animal or the milk, that a raw milk or certified raw milk supply
under the control of the producer of such milk supply is suspected
to be the source of an infection for a communicable disease, or that
a raw milk or certified raw milk supply may cause an infection of a
communicable disease, he shall prohibit the use, sale, or disposal of
such milk, except by a method approved by the director, until such
cause has been corrected or eliminated. However, in the case of such
a milk supply being under the control of either a retailer or
distributor to retailers, the director or his agent may only prohibit
the use, sale, or disposal of such milk in a manner used for any
other market milk or milk product.
(d) Actions taken pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (c)
shall in each instance be subject to judicial review under Section
1085 of the Code of Civil Procedure by the superior court of the
county with jurisdiction. Such review shall be conducted for the
purpose of determining if the action taken shall be sustained or
dissolved. At issue in the review shall be the questions of adequate
protection of the public health and safety, and the guarantee of due
process of law for the persons controlling, or producer of, the raw
or certified raw milk supply affected by the action. The department
shall have the burden of proof to sustain the actions of the director
or his agents at issue in the review.
In the event the court, after such review, finds that the action
by the director shall be dissolved, the department shall bear the
actual court costs incurred by the persons controlling, or producers
of, the raw or certified raw milk supply, and their actual testing
costs for any animal or milk tests previously ordered by the
department to determine if such milk supply, which is the subject of
such court action, is the source of, or may cause, an infection for a
communicable disease.
As used in this subdivision, "testing costs" means the actual cost
of obtaining samples to be tested, the actual cost of laboratory
tests, and the actual cost for extra labor to confine the cattle for
the purpose of testing.
(e) In addition to any procedural requirements of Section 32731,
any routine inspection conducted for the purpose of taking samples of
milk or inspecting any cow pursuant to subdivision (b) or (c) shall
be conducted only after the issuance of an inspection warrant as
provided in Title 13 (commencing with Section 1822. 50) of Part 3 of
the Code of Civil Procedure, unless such inspection is conducted with
the knowledge of the persons controlling the milk supply or cow. In
the taking of a sample of milk pursuant to subdivision (a), (b), or
(c), a duplicate of any sample of raw milk or certified raw milk
shall be left with the persons in control of, or producers of, such
milk.
(f) The Legislature finds and declares that the state does not
intend to limit or restrict the availability of certified raw milk
and certified raw milk products to those persons desiring to consume
such milk and such products, provided such milk and products meet
standards of sanitation and wholesomeness at least equal to market
milk that is grade A raw milk, as defined in Section 35891.