H

[1st March, 1913.]

IS MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

1. This Act may be cited as the "Milk Act."

Short title.

milk produced for

2. The Council of every municipality is hereby authorized to pass By-laws regulating by-laws for regulating milk produced for sale, offered for sale, or sale. sold within such municipality as to

(a.) The care of cows producing milk for sale for domestic consumption:

(b.) The cleanliness, ventilation, and sanitary conditions of the places in which cows are kept or milked or in which milk is stored:

(c.) The water supplied to cows:

(d.) The care and cleansing, construction, and type of all utensils used in handling milk, whether by producers, carriers, or vendors:

(e.) The care, storage, transportation, and distribution of milk by producers, carriers, or vendors:

(f.) The making of bacteriological tests for the purpose of ascertaining the wholesomeness of milk offered for sale by any producer, carrier, or vendor; and

(g.) Such other matters regarding the production, care, transportation, or sale of milk as the Council may consider necessary;

and upon such regulations being approved in writing by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, the same shall apply to all milk produced for sale, offered for sale, or sold within such municipality.

By-laws regulating the granting of licences.

By-laws fixing

fat and solids.

3. (1.) The Council of every municipality is hereby authorized to enact by-laws

(a.) For regulating the granting of licences to vendors of milk
for human consumption in that municipality; and
(b.) For compelling vendors to label, with their respective
names, all bottles, containers, and cans containing milk
for sale, and for prohibiting carriers from delivering milk
in delivery-carts unless such carts have painted thereon in
a conspicuous place, in letters not less than three inches
in height, the names of the vendors of the milk carried
for delivery.

(2.) No person shall sell milk in any municipality where such by-laws are in force without first obtaining a licence therefor.

4. (1.) The Council of every municipality is hereby authorized standards of butter- to enact by-laws fixing the standard for butter-fat and total solids of milk sold in such municipality, but no milk shall be sold for human consumption which contains not less than three and onequarter per cent. of milk-fat, and not less than eight and one-half per cent. of milk solids, other than fat.

Preservatives, etc., not to be used.

Appointment of inspectors.

Powers of inspectors.

Right to enter, take samples, etc.

(2.) No person shall place any preservative in milk intended for human consumption, or sell or offer for sale to any vendor milk from which any part of the butter-fat has been removed, or to which water has been added, or which has otherwise been changed from its normal condition, without previously giving notice in writing of such change to such vendor; and no vendor of milk shall sell or offer for sale milk not complying with the standard, or from which butter-fat has been removed, or to which water has been added, or which has received special treatment causing it to differ from normal milk, without clearly and distinctly advertising the same in the manner demanded by the regulations of the municipality in which it is sold.

5. (1.) The Council of every municipality is authorized to appoint an inspector or inspectors for the enforcement of this Act and any regulations enacted hereunder, and each such inspector shall have power to prohibit the sale of milk for consumption within the municipality for which he is inspector which in his judgment is produced or handled contrary to the provisions of this Act or any regulations made hereunder.

(2.) Every such inspector shall have the right to inspect the premises of every vendor licensed to sell milk within the munici pality for which he is inspector, to see that the requirements of this Act and the regulations enacted hereunder are fully complied with, and to take samples of milk for examination and testing. (3.) Every such inspector shall have the right of entrance to the premises, no matter where located, of every person producing milk for sale or consumption within the municipality for which he is

inspector, of fully inspecting the same, and of taking for examination and having tested samples of milk produced therein and of the water supplied to cows or used in cleansing dairy utensils.

taking samples

(4.) Every such inspector shall have the right to inspect and to Inspecting and take samples of milk for sale or consumption within the municipality in transit. for which he is inspector while in transit, and shall have the right

of entrance to any premises in order to procure samples of such milk.

(5.) The result of all said tests shall be open to public inspection Publication of tests. at all reasonable times, and may be published by the Medical Health Officer of the municipality if he so desires.

diseased cows.

6. No milk shall be sold from any cow which, upon physical Milk from examination by a duly qualified veterinary surgeon, shall be declared to be suffering from tuberculosis of the udder or milk-glands, or whose milk, upon bacteriological or microscopical analysis, is shown to contain tubercle bacilli, or which is known to be suffering from splenic fever or anthrax, or any other general or local disease which is liable to render milk from such cow a menace to the public health. Where any doubt arises as to any cow being affected with any of the diseases above mentioned, it shall be the duty of the inspector to notify the owner that the milk of such cow must not be sold or offered for sale until a permit so to do has been granted by the Board of Health of the municipality in which such milk is being consumed; and upon such notice being given, no milk from such cow shall be sold until said permit has been granted.

from certain

7. No person suffering from or who has knowingly within a time Persons suffering prescribed by the regulations of the Provincial Board of Health diseases not to be been exposed to diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, erysipelas, employed. small-pox, anthrax, or venereal disease or any infectious skin-disease shall work or assist in the production, transportation, or vending of milk, and no proprietor, manager, or superintendent of any dairy or dairy farm shall knowingly permit any person suffering or exposed as aforesaid to work or assist in the production, transportation, or vending of milk, and the sale of milk produced or handled under such circumstances may be forthwith prohibited by the inspector.

cleansed, etc.

8. No cans, bottles, or other utensils used in the distributing of Cans, etc., to be milk shall be used for any other purpose whatsoever, and all such cans, bottles, and other utensils must be thoroughly cleansed before again being used.

9. The Council of every municipality is authorized to establish Milk depots. and maintain or assist by annual grant or otherwise in the establishment and maintenance of milk depots in order to furnish a special supply of milk to infants.

10. It shall be unlawful to apply the term "certified" to any Use of word milk which does not comply with the following standard:--

"certified."

Use of word
"pasteurized."

Applicable to
City of Vancouver.

Penalty.

Prosecution.

(a.) It shall be taken from cows semi-annually subjected to the tuberculin test and found without reaction:

(b.) It shall contain not more than ten thousand bacteria per cubic centimetre from June to September, both inclusive, and not more than five thousand bacteria per cubic centimetre from October to May, both inclusive:

(c.) It shall be free from blood, pus, or disease-producing organisms:

(d.) It shall be free from disagreeable odour or taste:

(e.) It shall have undergone no pasteurization or sterilization and be free from chemical preservatives:

(f.) It shall be cooled to forty-five degrees Fahrenheit or under within half an hour after milking, and kept at that temperature until delivered to the consumer:

(g.) It shall contain twelve to thirteen per cent. of milk solids, of which at least three and one-half per cent. is butter-fat: (h.) It shall be from a farm the herd of which is inspected

monthly by the veterinarian :

Provided that no milk shall be sold as "certified” until a certifi cate setting forth that the above conditions have been complied with is obtained from time to time from the Medical Health Officer of the municipality in which it is to be consumed, or from an incorporated society of medical practitioners.

11. It shall not be lawful to apply the word "pasteurized" to any milk unless all portions have been subjected for at least twenty and not more than thirty minutes to a temperature of not less than one hundred and forty and not more than one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, and then at once cooled to forty-five degrees Fahrenheit or under, and kept at that temperature until delivered to the consumer; and the process of pasteurization shall be subject to inspection by the Local Medical Health Officer or such inspector as he may designate: Provided always that all such milk shall in all other respects be subject to all the terms and conditions of this Act. This section shall not come into force until the first day of July, 1913.

12. This Act, except in so far as it may be repugnant to or inconsistent with any of the provisions of the "Vancouver Incorporation Act, 1900," and amending Acts, shall apply to and be in force in the City of Vancouver.

13. (1.) Any person violating any of the provisions of this Act or of any by-law or regulation passed hereunder shall incur a penalty of not less than one dollar nor more than fifty dollars.

(2.) The "Summary Convictions Act" shall apply to every prosecution under this Act.