# The Milk (Special Designation) Regulations 1988, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations re-enact with modifications the Milk (Special Designation) Regulations 1986, as amended, and make provision for the implementation of Council Directive 85/397/EEC (OJ No. L226, 24.8.1985, p. 13) on health and animal health problems affecting intra-Community trade in heat-treated milk.
The Regulations prescribe special designations (“Untreated”, “Pasteurised”, “Sterilised” and “Ultra Heat Treated”) for use in relation to the sale of milk and provide for the grant, refusal, suspension and revocation of licences authorising such use.
In addition to drafting amendments, the Regulations make the following changes of substance:–
(a) a sample of milk taken in specified circumstances is required to satisfy a coliform test in the case of pasteurised milk and a plate count test in the case of raw milk, bulk milk heat treated for transportation, pasteurised milk, sterilised milk and milk treated by the ultra high temperature method (regulation 6 and Schedule 4, Part I, paragraph A5, Part II, paragraph A4(1), Part III, paragraph A4, Schedule 5, Parts III and IV); in consequence, the colony count test prescribed by the 1986 Regulations has been omitted;
(b) the time within which a person affected by a licensing authority’s proposal to suspend or revoke a licence or to refuse to grant a licence can exercise specified rights of making representations, requesting the matter to be referred to a tribunal, being heard by a committee or appealing to the Minister, has been extended from 14 days to 21 days (regulations 10(4), 17(2)(b), (d) and (f) and 17(3));
(c) records are required to be kept by the licence holder of milk delivered to or from the premises to which the licence relates, other than by way of purchase or sale (Schedule 1, paragraph 4(a));
(d) as pre-conditions for heat treatment of raw milk it is required that–
(i) over the preceding two months not less than two samples taken each month of the producer’s milk have satisfied a prescribed average plate count;
(ii) in the case of raw milk not heat treated within 36 hours, steps have been taken to ensure a prescribed maximum plate count is not exceeded; and
(iii) the results of such plate counts are recorded (Schedule 3, paragraphs 4 and 5);
(e) in any proceedings for a breach of the pre-conditions referred to in paragraph (d) above, evidence of a sample taken or of a plate count carried out in accordance with Part I or IV of Schedule 5, respectively, is to be preferred to evidence of a sample taken or of a plate count by any other method (Schedule 3, paragraph 6);
(f) in continuous flow heat treatment apparatus, devices for the automatic diversion of milk not raised to the authorised temperature are required to record each operation automatically and the records are required to be dated and preserved for a specified period (Schedule 4, Part I, paragraph A3, Part II, paragraph B3, Part III, paragraph 2);
(g) in specified circumstances, a sample of milk to be subjected to a coliform or plate count test is required to be transported at a prescribed temperature (Schedule 5, Part I, paragraph 6).
These Regulations apply only to England and Wales.
Information as to British Standards referred to in these Regulations can be obtained by post from the British Standards Institution at Milton Keynes or from any of the Institution’s sales outlets.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1988/2204/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/milk-special-designation-regulations-1988/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.