CHAPTER 36
STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE
AN ACT providing for the protection of the public health, and the prevention of fraud and deception, by regulating the weighing, testing, buying, and selling of milk and cream; providing for the examination and appointment of certified testers, and the issuing of licenses and making of tests; and providing penalties.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. "That every creamery, shipping station, milk factory, cheese factory, ice cream factory, or milk condensary, or person, receiving, buying, paying for, and selling milk or cream, on the basis of, or with reference to,-the amount of butterfat contained therein, shall be required to hold a permit. The permit shall be issued to such creamery, shipping station, milk factory, cheese factory, ice cream factory, condensary, or person, by the State Board of Agriculture. The permit shall be valid for a term of one calendar year, and shall be revoked by the State Board of Agriculture for violation of the provisions of this act. This provision shall not apply to individuals buying milk or cream for private use, or to hotels, restaurants, boarding houses, railroad dining cars, or drug stores.
Section 2. It shall be unlawful for any person, association, co-partnership, or corporation, their agents or servants, engaged in the business of buying milk or cream on the basis of, or in any manner with reference to, the amount or percentage of butterfat contained therein, to underread, overread, or otherwise fraudulently manipulate the test, commonly known as the "Babcock test," used for determining the percentage of such fat in said milk or cream, or to falsify the record thereof, or to make the "Babcock" reading except when the fat has a temperature of one hundred thirty degrees to one hundred forty-five degrees Fahrenheit, or to use for such test quantities other than seventeen and six-tenths (17.6) cubic centimeters in the case of milk, and nine (9) grams or eighteen (18) grams in the case of cream. In all tests of cream, the cream shall be weighed and not measured into the test bottle.
Section 3. No person, association, co-partnership, or corporation, purchasing milk or cream, and paying for the same, on the basis of the percentage of butterfat contained therein, shall, if the percentage of butterfat is ascertained by the said "Babcock test," use any test glassware except standard Babcock test glassware. If the proportion of butterfat is determined by any method other than the "Babcock test," no utensil or instrument shall be used in such determination until the same has been inspected and approved by the State Board of Agriculture.
Section 4. Every person, association, co-partnership, corporation, or agent or servant thereof, engaged in the business of receiving or buying milk or cream on the basis of, or in any way with reference to, the amount of butterfat contained therein, as determined by the "Babcock test," shall have the samples taken, and said test or tests made, only by a certified tester, who shall supervise and be responsible for the same. For the purpose of this act, a "certified tester" is any person who, having furnished satisfactory evidence of good character, and having passed a satisfactory examination in milk and cream testing conducted by the Agricultural Department of Delaware College, shall have received a certificate of proficiency from the said department. Each applicant for such certificate shall pay a fee of three dollars ($3.00) to said department, in, such manner as its regulations may prescribe, to defray the cost of the required examination and of the certificate. The said department shall issue such certificate of proficiency, in the name of the approved applicant and under serial number, and shall maintain a correspondingly numbered register of all such certificates issued under this act. This certificate shall be forwarded by the said department to the State Board of Agriculture, who shall issue a license to said applicant, good for one calendar year, on the payment of a fee of two dollars ($2.00) to the State Board of Agriculture. This license shall be renewed annually, without further examination, at the discretion of the State Board of Agriculture, upon the payment of two dollars. All moneys so collected shall be used to meet the expenses of the Department of Agriculture. Each certified tester shall post his license in plain view in the testing room in which he is employed. The State Board of Agriculture shall revoke said license for failure to post it as above required or for any other just cause.
Section 5. Any person, association, co-partnership or corporation, engaged in the business of buying milk or cream on the basis of, or in any way with reference to, the amount or percentage of butterfat contained therein, as determined by the "Babcock test," shall make such test of milk or cream bought from each person at least once every sixteen days. The milk or cream purchased from each person shall be represented by a composite sample, taken from each of the several lots of milk or cream bought from said person, and shall cover a period of not more than sixteen days. The composite samples, to which a suitable preservative has been added, shall be made up of aliquot parts taken from each of the several lots of milk or cream bought from each person concerned, and composite samples of all persons concerned shall cover the same period of time. Each composite sample shall be plainly labeled with the name of the person whose milk or cream the composite sample represents, and with the date of the first and last day of the period of time covered by the said composite sample. After such samples have been tested, their residues shall be kept intact on the premises for a further period of not less than ten days, in order to make possible a check test. The State Board of Agriculture is hereby authorized to make check tests whenever in its judgment such tests are for the public welfare.
Section 6. No percentage of fat ascertained from a sample, containing milk or cream, that has been so treated as to cause it to test lower or higher than the test of the milk or cream from which it was taken, shall be used as a basis of payment for milk or cream purchased or sold. No composite sample shall be tested for use as a basis for payment of milk, which has been kept more than fifteen days after such composite sample has been completely taken.
Section 7. No person, association, co-partnership, or corporation, purchasing or selling milk or cream, or both, by weight, and no agent or servant of any such person, association, co-partnership, or corporation, shall fraudulently use, as the basis of payment for such purchase, any weight other than the true weight of the milk or cream so purchased or sold.
Section 8. The State Board of Agriculture and its agents are hereby authorized to enter the premises, and to examine the books and records and testing apparatus, of any person, association, co-partnership, or corporation, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act.
Section 9. The State Board of Agriculture shall be charged with the enforcement of the provisions of this act. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prevent any individual from prosecuting any one violating any of the provisions of this act.
Section 10. Any person violating any of the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00), or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court.
Section 11. All fines and penalties imposed and received for the violation of any of the provisions of this act, shall be paid to the State Board of Agriculture, or its agent, and shall thereafter be paid into the State Treasury for the use of the Commonwealth.
Section 12. This act shall take effect June first one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one; but all necessary examinations shall have been held, and all licenses and permits issued, a suitable length of time previous to the above date.
Section 13. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.
Approved April 7, A. D. 1921.