BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE
Senator Abel Maldonado, Chairman
BILL NO: AB 1735 HEARING: 6/19/07
AUTHOR: Agriculture FISCAL: Yes
VERSION: 4/16/07 CONSULTANT: John Chandler
Milk and dairy products: standards.
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is
responsible for regulating California's milk and milk processors
to ensure quality milk through the Milk and Dairy Food Safety
Branch.
Current state law requires that California milk be cooled to 50
degrees Fahrenheit or lower within five hours of after the
beginning of milking or one hour after the completion of
milking. During transport milk shall not exceed 52 degrees
Fahrenheit.
State law requires farms selling Grade A milk score 85% or
higher on the dairy farm scorecard. The dairy farm scorecard
established under the Milk and Milk Products Act of 1947 is
developed by the Secretary of CDFA as the official scoring of
dairy farms and processors.
California currently has two producers of raw milk which is
marketed directly to consumers as raw milk. Market raw milk
currently is required to have no more that 15,000 bacteria per
milliliter.
However, in 1994 in order for California law to concur with the
new federal Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 several
sections of the Food and Agriculture code were repealed that
contained bacterial standards for many milk products. While AB
444 (Aguiar, Chapter 95, Statues of 1994) repealed many of the
bacterial standards for such dairy products as half-and-half,
heavy cream, ice cream, light cream, nonfat dry milk, sherbet,
yogurt, sour cream, and eggnog do not have state microbial
standards. However, CDFA continued to enforce these standards
without statutory authority for compliance.
California is part of the National Conference on Interstate Milk
Shipments (NCIMS) which helps states ensure uniform compliance
with federal regulations and ensures that standards remain
similar for milk transported between states.
AB 1735 - Page 2
PROPOSED LAW
This bill makes several technical changes to state milk
standards and grades. Specifically this bill:
Specifies that raw milk and half-and-half can not have more than
10 coliform bacteria per milliliter.
Modifies the cooling requirements for storage and transportation
of pasteurized and raw market milk to be cooled to 50 degrees
Fahrenheit after milking begins and maintain 45 degrees
Fahrenheit within two hours of completion of milking.
Increases the required score for Grade A raw milk dairies from
85% or better to 90% or better on the dairy scorecard.
Specifies maximum bacterial count for the following milk
products:
Half-and-half: no more than 20,000 per milliliter
Ice cream: no more than 75,000 per gram
Sherbet: no more than 75,000 per gram
Nonfat dry milk: no more than 30,000 per gram or 10
coliform bacteria per gram
Sour Cream: no more that 10 coliform bacteria per gram
Yogurt: no more than 10 coliform bacteria per gram and
no more than 10 bacteria colonies per gram
Light cream, heavy cream, whipping creams, and whipped
creams: no more than 20,000 per gram and not more than 10
coliform bacteria per gram
Eggnog: no more than 20,000 per gram and not more than
10 coliform per gram
COMMENTS
1.According to the author, this bill is necessary for California
milk safety and inspection laws to be consistent with federal
interstate milk shipment guidelines and restores CDFA's
ability to take enforcement action against certain dairy
products that exceed specified bacterial count limits.
Recently two outbreaks of E. coli 0157: H7 in Washington and
California have been linked to raw milk consumption. The
absence of coliform bacteria standards for bottled raw milk
presents a significant gap in current regulatory monitoring of
food safety standards. The standards establish in AB 1735
ensure that California will not be in conflict with NCIMS
federal standard that could threaten our interstate milk
shipments.
AB 1735 - Page 3
2.The Senate Rules Committee has doubled referred this bill to
the Senate Health Committee as the second committee of
referral. Therefore, if this measure is approved by this
committee, the motion should include an action to re-refer the
bill to the Senate Committee on Health.
PRIOR ACTIONS
Assembly Floor 73-0
Assembly Appropriations16-0
Assembly Agriculture8-0
SUPPORT OPPOSITION
None received None received