UC Farm Labor Management Program

No person shall, produce, provide, sell, or offer for sale, or have in possession with intent to sell, offer, or expose any milk or milk product which is adulterated or misbranded. Any adulterated or misbranded milk or milk product may be impounded by the regulatory agency and disposed of in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

Adulterated food is food that: 

ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
-- The force exerted on an area by the column of air above that area. Atmospheric pressure at sea level is 14.7 pounds per square inch.

BALANCE TANK
-- Raw product tank located at the start of a pasteurization system used to maintain a constant supply of product to the pasteurizer.

BOOSTER PUMP
-- A centrifugal pump placed in a pasteurizing system between the balance tank and the raw regenerator and capable of producing positive pressure in the raw regenerator.

Flavor in one of the most important qualities that determine the acceptability of milk. Even though milk is highly nutritious, people will not drink it if they do not like it. Hence, milk should be produced under conditions that give good flavor initially, and also be handled to protect its flavor at every step from the cow to the consumer.

Grade A Raw Milk 
Temperature Cooled to 7 C(45 F) or less within two hours after milking, provided that the blend temperature after the first and subsequent milkings does not exceed 10 C(50 F).

Bacterial Limits
Individual producer milk not to exceed 100,000 per mL ( 50,000) prior to commingling with other producer milk.

Commingled
Not to exceed 300,000 (50,000) per mL as commingled milk prior to pasteurization.

Coliform/Thermoduric
Not to exceed 750/mL (California).

"The product contact surfaces of all multi-use containers, utensils, and equipment used in the transportation, processing, handling, and storage of milk or milk products shall be effectively cleaned and shall be sanitized before each use. Provided, that piping, equipment and containers used to process, conduct or package aseptically processed milk and milk products beyond the final heat treatment process shall be sterilized before any aseptically processed milk or milk product is packaged and shall be re-sterilized whenever any unsterile product has contaminated it."

The 3-A Symbol Council representing a cross-section of industry establishes the intended use of a piece of milk handling/processing equipment and then affixes established criteria or standards upon its fabrication and design. This then provides a guide to a manufacturer and fabricator and a legal document.

Did you know that your dairy plant may be producing a waste load of 800,000 pounds of BOD5 per year - equivalent to the load from a city of 13,000 people?

With the growing importance of effective pollution control, added emphasis has been placed on the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD). The Environmental Protection Agency uses BOD levels to measure effluent strength and to establish effluent guidelines as required by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Many municipalities use BOD loads to determine charges and surcharges for industrial users of waste treatment facilities. More importantly, BOD strength is a measure of plant losses during handling and processing of dairy products.