Virginia Law

A. Construction, maintenance, and plants.

1. Buildings shall be of sound construction. The exterior and interior shall be kept clean and in good repair to protect against dust, dirt and mold, and to prevent the entrance or harboring of insects, rodents, vermin and other animals.

2. In processing areas, outside doors, windows, skylights, and transoms shall be screened or otherwise covered. Such outside doors shall not open inward and shall be self-closing; and doors leading to processing rooms shall be sound and tight fitting. Windowsills on new construction shall be sloping. Outside conveyor openings and other special type outside openings for sanitary pipelines shall be covered when not in use; and service-pipe openings shall be completely cemented around the pipe opening or have tight metal collars.

3. All rooms, compartments, coolers, freezers and dry storage space in which any raw material packaging, ingredient supplies, or finished products are handled, processed, manufactured, packaged, or stored shall be designed and constructed to assure clean and orderly operations. Rooms for receiving milk shall be separated from the processing area by a partition or suitable arrangement of equipment or facilities to avoid contamination of milk or dairy products. Boiler and tool rooms shall be separated from other rooms. Toilet and dressing rooms shall be conveniently located and shall not open directly into any room in which milk, dairy products, or ingredients are handled, processed, packaged, or stored. Doors of all toilet rooms shall be self-closing; and fixtures shall be kept clean and in good repair.

4. Plans for new plant construction or major remodeling of existing plants shall be submitted to the State Regulatory Authority for approval prior to such new construction or remodeling.

B. Interior finishing.

1. In all rooms in which milk or dairy products are received and processed and where mix and frozen desserts are manufactured, packaged, or stored, (except dry storage of packaging materials), or in which equipment or utensils are washed, the walls, ceilings, partitions, and posts shall be smoothly finished with a washable material of light color that is substantially impervious to moisture. A wainscoting of a suitable material in a darker color may be used to a height not exceeding 60 inches from the floor.

2. The floors in these rooms shall be of concrete or other impervious material and shall be smooth, properly graded to drain, and have drains trapped; except that freezers used for storing frozen desserts, frozen fruits, frozen eggs, and comparable ingredients need not be provided with floor drains; but the floors shall be sloped to drain to one or more exits, and shall be kept clean. The plumbing shall be installed to prevent backup of sewage into the plant. On new construction or extensive remodeling, the floors shall be joined and coved with the walls to form watertight joints. Sound, smooth, wood floors may be used in certain packaging rooms where the nature of the product permits. Toilet and dressing rooms shall have impervious floors and smooth walls.

C. Ventilation and lighting.

1. All rooms and compartments (including storage space and toilet and dressing rooms) shall be ventilated to maintain sanitary conditions, prevent undue condensation of water vapor, and minimize or eliminate objectionable odors.

2. Lighting, whether natural or artificial, shall be of good quality and well distributed in all rooms and compartments. All rooms where milk, dairy products, or mix and frozen desserts are handled, processed, manufactured, or packaged, or where equipment or utensils are washed, shall have at least 30 foot-candles of light intensity on all working surfaces; areas where dairy products are examined for condition and quality, at least 50 foot-candles of light intensity; and all other rooms, at least five foot-candles or intensity measured 30 inches above the floor. Light bulbs and fluorescent tubes shall be protected against breakage.