California Milk Standards

California has different bacteriological and nutritional standards for the milk produced and processed in California. They include:

Bacteriological Standards

Standard Federal California
Grade "A" Raw Milk for Pasteurization Bacterial (Standard Plate Count) Limits Not to exceed 100,000 per ml Not to exceed 50,000 per ml
Somatic Cell Count Not to exceed 750,000 per ml Not to exceed 600,000 per ml
Coliform No Standard Not to exceed 750 per ml
Laboratory Pasteurized Count No Standard Not to exceed 750 per ml
Grade "A" Pasteurized Milk Standard Plate Count Maximum 20,000 per ml Maximum 15,000 per ml
Coliform Maximum 10 per ml Maximum 10 per ml

Compositional Standards

Standard Federal California
Grade A Pasteurized Milk Milkfat Minimum 3.25% 3.5% *
Milk Solids-Not-Fat (SNF), minimum 8.25% 8.7% *
Total Milk Solids No Standard 12.2% Minimum
Grade A Reduced Fat Milk Milkfat Maximum 2.1%
No Minimum
Maximum 2.1%
Minimum 1.9%
SNF, minimum 8.25% 10.0%
Grade A Lowfat Milk Milkfat Maximum 1.2%
No Minimum
Maximum 1.1%
Minimum 0.9%
SNF, minimum 8.25% 11.0%
Grade A Nonfat Milk Milkfat 0.20% 0.20%
SNF, minimum 8.25% 9.0%

While our standards may be stricter than the federal standards, this is not meant to imply the federal standards allow for unsafe milk.
* The minimum % of Milkfat and Milk Solids Not Fat required may vary by no more than 0.1%, provided the total combined % of milkfat and SNF ≥ minimum required % TS (12.2).

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