CALIFORNIAN DAIRY LAW.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1825, 11 May 1918, Page 1

CALIFORNIAN DAIRY LAW.

DRASTIC REGULATIONS.

Two, dairy laws were recently passed by the Californian State Legislature, changing the law of 1915, They became effective in August last year. One of the new measures strengthens the present law requiring that all milk and cream for human consumption, either as such or as butter, ice cream or any other dairy product except cheese, be either from cows that have passed the tuberculin test or be pasteurised by the holding process. Cream to be used in butter making must be heated to 140 deg. F,, and held for not less than 25 minutes. A sliding scale permits a reduction of time of one minute for each degree of heat over 151 degrees. The pasteurisation would therefore be considered complete if the cream be heated to 176 degrees fpr one miute. Butter made from unpasteurised cream, the product of untested cows, must be marked “For cooking and baking only/' and must not be used for any other purpose. The old law required that milk be cooled within one hour after being drawn, but it did not specitically name cream, and this left the matter open to question. This has been remedied by a new measure requiring that all milk and cream be so cooled.

Cheese must hereafter be branded on each separate cheese, and on each package when shipped, showing the grade, whether “full cream,” “half cream,” or “skim cheese,” Full cream is considered cheese made from whole milk, and Avhich contains not less than 50 per cent, of milk fat in the water free substance, Half skim is cheese made of milk from which part of the fat has been removed, and which contains not less than 25 per cent, of milk fat in the water-free substance.

One of the new laws prescribes that cans, bottles or other containers. must be cleansed and sterilised by boiling water or superheated steam before being returned to the consignor or shipper, and that consumers or retailers must so cleanse containers before returning same. All creameries, shipping stations, milk plants, cheese factories, ice cream factories, condensories, or other person, firm or corporation (except, when buying for private use) purchasing milk or cream on a butter-fat basis must first obtain a license, which will not be issued unless all the sanitary laws, rules, and regulations of the State are complied with. The licence fee is one dollar (4s 2d). The testing of milk or cream purchased on such a basis must be by a licensed tester, who has passed the requirements of the State Dairy Bureau,

The Act defines standard Babcock glassware, and forbids the use of any other by persons purchasing milk or cream on a butter-fat basis. Babcock test bottles and pipettes must be. inspected before using by the State Dairy Bureau. Some of the test bottles now in use will have to be eliminated.

Testing of coavs for tuberculosis uiust be by, or supervised by, the State veterinarian or one of his deputies, All reacting animals must be separated from healthy animals, and marked indelibly on the cur Avith

the capital letter “T” one inch long. Dairies having not more than two cows, which are fount! on inspection, to comply with all other provisions of the law, are exempt from the scoring requirements) ami must furnish samples of their milk and cream for bacterial count. ' Table cream may contain twice the maximum bacterial count as the same grade of milk.