Alabama Administrative Code › Title 420 - ALABAMA STATE BOARD OF HEALTH › Chapter 420-3-16 - PRODUCTION, PROCESSING, HANDLING OR DISTRIBUTION OF MILK, MILK PRODUCTS AND FROZEN DESSERTS › Section 420-3-16-.06 - Inspection Of Dairy Farms, Milk, And Frozen Dessert Plants

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
(1) Each dairy
			 farm, milk plant, frozen dessert plant, receiving station, and transfer station
			 whose milk, milk products, or frozen desserts are intended for consumption
			 within Alabama or its jurisdiction and each milk hauler/sampler who collects
			 samples of raw milk for pasteurization, bacteriological, chemical, or
			 temperature standards and hauls milk from a dairy farm to a milk plant, frozen
			 dessert plant, transfer station, or receiving station and his bulk milk pickup
			 tank and its appurtenances shall be inspected by the Health Officer prior to
			 the issuance of a permit. Following the issuance of a permit, each bulk milk
			 pickup tanker and its appurtenances used by a milk hauler who collects samples
			 of raw milk for pasteurization, for bacterial, chemical, or temperature
			 standards and hauls milk from a dairy farm to a milk plant, frozen dessert
			 plant, transfer station, or receiving station shall be inspected/audited at
			 least once every twenty-four (24) months. Each hauler's or sampler's pickup and
			 sampling procedures shall be inspected at least once every twenty-four (24)
			 months. Prior to the issuance of a permit as specified in Rule
			 420-3-16-.04, the Health Officer
			 shall inspect all dairy farms, milk plants, and frozen dessert plants, the milk
			 and/or milk products from which are intended for consumption and which are
			 subject to provisions of these rules. Inspections of dairy farms shall be
			 quarterly for dairies with a sanitation score of ninety (90) or more. Dairies
			 with a sanitation score of less than ninety (90) shall be inspected monthly
			 until such time as a score of ninety (90) or more is received. At no time shall
			 a period of one-hundred (100) days lapse without an official inspection. Four
			 (4) inspections per year of all milk and frozen dessert plants shall be
			 required, but in no instance shall two (2) inspections in any one (1) month be
			 included in the required number of yearly inspections. At no time shall a
			 period of ninety (90) days lapse without an official inspection.
(2) The Health Officer having jurisdiction
			 may require more frequent inspections of plants than the minimum number set
			 forth in this rule. In case the Health Officer discovers the violation of any
			 item of sanitation prescribed in Rule
			 420-3-16-.09 or
			 420-3-16-.10 for the grade of
			 milk being currently produced at any dairy farm or plant, he/she shall make a
			 second inspection of the said dairy farm or plant after a lapse of such time as
			 he/she deems necessary for the correction of the defect or violation
			 discovered, but not before the lapse of three (3) days. The Health Officer
			 shall, upon finding the violation of the same item of Rule
			 420-3-16-.09 or
			 420-3-16-.10 on two (2)
			 consecutive inspections, serve upon the permit holder a written notice of
			 intent to suspend permit, which notice shall specify with particularity the
			 violation(s) in question and afford the permit holder a reasonable time to
			 correct such violation.
(3) The
			 violation of the same item in Rule
			 420-3-16-.09 or
			 420-3-16-.10 on three (3)
			 consecutive inspections shall call for permit suspension or revocation after
			 proper notification outlines above in accordance with Rule
			 420-3-16-.04 and/or court action;
			 provided, that when the Health Officer finds that a critical processing element
			 violation involving the following:
(a) Proper
			 pasteurization, whereby, every particle of milk or milk product may not have
			 been heated to the proper temperature and held for the required time in
			 properly designed and operating equipment;
(b) A cross connection exists whereby direct
			 contamination of pasteurized milk or milk product is occurring; or
(c) Conditions exist whereby direct
			 contamination of pasteurized milk or milk product is occurring.
(d) The Health Officer shall take immediate
			 action to prevent further processing of such milk or milk product until such
			 violations of critical processing element(s) have been corrected. Should
			 correction of such critical processing elements not be accomplished
			 immediately, the Health Officer shall take prompt action to suspend the permit
			 as provided for in Rule
			 420-3-16-.04. Provided in the
			 case of dairy plants producing aseptically processed milk and milk products,
			 when an inspection of the dairy plant and its records reveal that the process
			 used has been less than the required scheduled process, it shall be considered
			 an imminent hazard to public health and the Health Officer shall take immediate
			 action to suspend the permit of the plant for the sale of aseptically processed
			 milk and milk products in conformance with Rule
			 420-3-16-.04.