§ 36331 Milk Quality Standards

Food and Agricultural Code·California

AI SummaryVerified

Key Takeaways

•Milk must be clean and free from dirt or other gross stuff.
•Milk should not taste or smell bad.
•Milk can't have too many bacteria—no more than 2 million per tiny drop.
•Milk must follow extra rules from the U.S. government to make sure it's good quality.

Example

You buy a carton of milk from the store, but when you open it, it smells sour and has little bits floating in it.

This milk breaks the law because it has bad smells and stuff in it that shouldn’t be there. The store shouldn’t sell milk like this.

AI-generated — May contain errors. Not legal advice. Always verify source.

Official Source

View on CA.gov

§ 36331 Milk Quality Standards

Manufacturing milk shall comply with all of the following requirements: (a) It shall be free from foreign substances. (b) It shall not contain any undesirable flavors or odors. (c) It shall not contain more than 2,000,000 individual bacteria per milliliter as found by direct microscopic count. In addition, manufacturing milk shall comply with the rules, regulations, and standards of the United States Department of Agriculture which govern quality standards of raw milk. (Amended by Stats. 1978, Ch. 28.)

Last verified: January 23, 2026

Key Terms

manufacturing milk foreign substances undesirable flavors or odors 2,000,000 individual bacteria per milliliter direct microscopic count United States Department of Agriculture quality standards of raw milk

References

Official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
California Legislature. Food and Agricultural Code. Section 36331.

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Key Takeaways

Example

Key Terms

Related Statutes

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