35921-35928
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.