Section 345IAC8-2-2. Manufactured grade milk products plants; construction; operation; sanitation

   (a) A manufacturing grade milk plant shall meet the requirements in this section.

  (b) The floors of all rooms in which milk or milk products are handled or processed, or in which milk or milk products utensils are washed or sanitized shall be:

(1) constructed of concrete or other equally impervious and easily cleaned material;

(2) smooth;

(3) properly drained;

(4) provided with trapped drains; and

(5) kept clean;

provided that cold storage rooms and storage rooms for storing dry ingredients or packaging materials need not be provided with drains; however, if no drain is provided, they shall be kept dry at all times. Rooms used for storing only dry ingredients, packaged dry ingredients, packaged dry milk or milk products, or packaging materials may have floors constructed of tightly joined wood.

  (c) Walls and ceilings of rooms in which milk or milk products are handled or processed, or in which milk or milk products utensils are washed or sanitized shall:

(1) have smooth, washable, and light-colored surfaces; and

(2) be kept clean.

  (d) Unless other effective means are provided to prevent the access of flies and other insects, all openings into the outer air shall be effectively screened and doors shall be self-closing. All screen doors to the outer air, if not of the sliding type, shall open outward. All inner doors opening into processing and packaging areas shall be self-closing. All self-closing doors shall be kept closed.

  (e) All rooms shall be provided with natural lighting, artificial lighting, or a combination of both that will furnish at least twenty (20) foot-candles of light in all working areas. Ventilation shall be such that excessive condensation on walls, ceilings, containers, and equipment is prevented. Steam from bottle and can washers, sterilizers, and driers shall be conducted through ducts to the outside of the building.

  (f) Milk plants must meet the following requirements:

(1) Operations shall be so located and conducted as to prevent any contamination of clean equipment, milk, or milk products.

(2) All means necessary for the elimination of flies and other insects shall be used, and the plant shall be free from flies and insects.

(3) Pasteurized milk or milk products shall not be permitted to come in contact with unpasteurized milk and equipment with which unpasteurized milk or milk products have been in contact unless such equipment has first been thoroughly cleaned and subjected to a bactericidal treatment approved by the board.

(4) Rooms in which milk, milk products, cleaned utensils, or containers are handled or stored shall not open directly into living quarters.

(5) A covered and enclosed area complying with this rule relating to floors, walls, ceilings, lighting, and ventilation shall be provided to adequately wash and sanitize milk tank trucks.

(6) The processing rooms of a milk plant shall be used for no other purposes than the processing of milk and milk products and the operations incident thereto. However, the preceding sentence shall not in any way be construed as prohibiting the operation of frozen desserts freezers in any room if the premises otherwise comply with the provisions of this section. Steam boilers shall not be located in the pasteurizing, processing, mixing, freezing, drying, cooling, bottling, packaging, or sterilizing room. Refrigerated rooms shall be free from contaminating odors and be kept clean, sanitary, and in good repair.

(7) Raw milk shall not be strained through woven wire cloth. Pasteurized milk, frozen desserts mix, and frozen desserts shall not be strained or filtered except through a metal strainer constructed of not readily corrodible material other than woven wire.

(8) There shall be no raw milk or raw milk product bypass around the pasteurization holding tube or vat.

(9) Receiving tanks, dump vats, and weigh tanks shall be constructed so as to prevent the entrance of dust, dirt, or other contamination. All openings into tanks, vats, and mix reservoirs shall be protected by raised edges or otherwise protected to prevent drainage into the opening from the surface of the tank, vat, or mix reservoir. A milk plant must provide condensation-diverting aprons that are as close to the tank, vat, or mix reservoir as possible on all pipes, thermometers, and other equipment extending into the tank unless a watertight joint with the tank is provided.

  (g) All vehicles, conveyances, and containers transporting raw milk and those that are clean and empty intended for raw milk shall be tightly enclosed. Milk products or empty containers used for milk products shall not be hauled in any unclean vehicle and shall not be hauled in vehicles that are also used for hauling livestock, manure, garbage, or coal.

  (h) Every milk plant shall provide toilet facilities for employees. Toilet rooms shall not open directly into any room in which milk, frozen desserts mix, frozen desserts, milk products, equipment, or containers are handled or stored. The doors of all toilet rooms shall be self-closing. Toilet rooms shall be kept in a clean condition, kept in good repair, and be well ventilated. In case privies are used, they shall be:

(1) separate from the building;

(2) sanitary; and

(3) located and properly constructed and maintained so that the waste:

(A) is inaccessible to flies; and

(B) does not pollute the surface soil or contaminate any water supply.

  (i) The water supply for a milk plant shall:

(1) be adequate, accessible, and under pressure; and

(2) meet the standards of quality for drinking purposes of the Indiana department of environmental management.

  (j) A milk plant shall provide convenient handwashing facilities for employees, including warm running water, soap, and sanitary towels. The use of a common towel is prohibited.

  (k) All milk and liquid milk products shall be moved from one (1) piece of equipment to another through sanitary milk piping of a type that can be easily cleaned with a brush, through approved clean-in-place sanitary milk piping, or by other means approved by the state veterinarian.

  (l) Multi-use containers and equipment that come into contact with milk or milk products shall be:

(1) constructed to be smooth and easily cleanable; and

(2) kept in good repair.

All surfaces with which milk or milk products come in contact shall be noncorrodible metal or an unbroken vitreous material free from broken seams, breaks, corrosion, and threaded surfaces. Equipment shall be self-draining, easily accessible, and easily disassembled for cleaning.

  (m) Wastes from sinks, drains, toilets, or equipment shall be connected with a disposal system or otherwise disposed of in a manner that complies with the rules of the board, the Indiana state department of health, the local health department, and the Indiana department of environmental management. Covered receptacles shall be provided for waste materials, and such waste materials shall be removed and emptied daily from the work rooms.

  (n) Requirements for cleaning and bactericidal treatment of containers and equipment shall be as follows:

(1) Every milk plant shall be equipped with equipment that is capable of producing sufficient hot water or steam for cleaning and sanitizing.

(2) Except as provided in section 2.5 of this rule, all milk or milk products equipment shall be disassembled and the parts thoroughly cleaned after it is used, but at least once every twenty-four (24) hours. Storage tanks must be cleaned when emptied, but at least once every seventy-two (72) hours. The equipment must be cleaned using clean hot water containing a dairy cleanser that is safe for use on dairy equipment according to the manufacturer's recommendation. Soap may not be used. Multi-use containers shall be cleaned before each use.

(3) This section does not prohibit the cleaning of dairy equipment by a clean-in-place method, provided the individual clean-in-place system and method used and the results obtained comply with the 3-A Sanitary Standards and are approved by the board. Cleaned-in-place systems that are welded or otherwise constructed so as to make daily visual inspection impractical shall be equipped with a temperature recording device installed in the return solution line to record the temperature and time during which the line or equipment is exposed to cleaning and sanitizing. Recording devices and charts shall comply and conform with 3-A Sanitary Standards and be approved by the board prior to installation and operation.

  (o) All multi-use milk and milk products containers and equipment shall be sanitized with an effective bactericidal process before they are used. After bactericidal treatment, all bottles, cans, and other multi-use milk and milk products containers and equipment shall be stored, while not in use, in such manner as to be protected from contamination. Between bactericidal treatment and usage, and during usage, containers and equipment shall not be handled, used, or operated in such manner as to permit contamination of the milk or milk products.

  (p) Single-service containers shall be:

(1) purchased and stored only in sanitary tubes and cartons; and

(2) kept therein in a clean, dry place.

Single-service articles shall be stored in a sanitary manner between the time that they are removed from the original container and used.

  (q) All milk and milk products received for pasteurization or processing shall immediately be cooled in approved equipment to forty-five (45) degrees Fahrenheit or less and maintained at that temperature until pasteurized unless they are to be pasteurized within two (2) hours after receipt. All pasteurized milk and milk products shall be immediately cooled in approved equipment to an average temperature of forty-five (45) degrees Fahrenheit or less, except when recognized standard processing practices dictate higher temperatures for cultured products and related byproducts.

  (r) A milk plant must use approved mechanical equipment for packaging. No multi-use container shall be filled or refilled until it is empty and has been cleaned and sanitized.

  (s) All persons coming in contact with milk, milk products, containers, or equipment shall:

(1) wear clean outer garments;

(2) wear hair nets, facial hair restraints, caps, or other effective hair restraints; and

(3) keep their hands clean;

at all times they are engaged in activity where they come into contact with milk, milk products, containers, or equipment.

  (t) Miscellaneous provisions shall be as follows:

(1) Overflow milk or milk products that have become machine contaminated shall not be sold for human food.

(2) Milk products shall not be returned to the manufacturer for resale after the original package has been opened. Milk products that have been returned to the manufacturer after the original package has been opened must be destroyed.

  (u) Frozen desserts in the manufacturer's unbroken package shall have a bacterial plate count of not more than thirty thousand (30,000) per gram and a coliform count of not more than ten (10) per gram. The bacterial plate count shall be considered satisfactory when the results of not more than two (2) of the last four (4) consecutive samples taken on separate days exceed thirty thousand (30,000) per gram. The coliform count shall be considered satisfactory when the results of not more than one (1) of four (4) consecutive samples taken upon separate days exceed ten (10) per gram.

  (v) Before milk plants, including transfer stations and receiving stations regulated under this rule are constructed, reconstructed, or extensively altered, construction plans shall be submitted to the board for written approval before work is begun. (Indiana State Board of Animal Health; HDP 86 Rule 13, Sec 2; filed Apr 26, 1979, 12:00 p.m.: 2 IR 690, eff one hundred twenty (120) days after filing with secretary of state; filed Apr 17, 1998, 9:00 a.m.: 21 IR 3344; errata filed Aug 13, 1998, 1:16 p.m.: 22 IR 126; filed Mar 23, 2000, 4:49 p.m.: 23 IR 1914; readopted filed May 2, 2001, 1:45 p.m.: 24 IR 2895; filed Sep 27, 2002, 2:40 p.m.: 26 IR 333; readopted filed May 9, 2007, 3:16 p.m.: 20070516-IR-345070037RFA; readopted filed Aug 7, 2013, 8:32 a.m.: 20130904-IR-345130236RFA; filed Dec 4, 2014, 1:59 p.m.: 20141224-IR-345140199FRA) NOTE: Transferred from the Indiana State Department of Health (410 IAC 8-13-2) to the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (345 IAC 8-2-2) by P.L.138-1996, SECTION 76, effective July 1, 1996.