Milk Production Holdings

Cork County Council has a statutory function in the implementation of legislation pertaining to dairy products. The consumption of milk and milk products poses a potential risk to public health. This risk can be microbiological, chemical and in rare cases physical.

The Veterinary Department is specifically responsible for the registration of all farms producing liquid milk destined for human consumption. This includes farms producing goat's milk for human consumption. The legislation under which the Veterinary Department carries out its statutory functions regarding liquid milk includes:

• European Communities, (Hygienic Production and Placing on the Market of Raw Milk, Heat-Treated Milk and Milk-Based Products) Regulations, 1996
• The Sale of Food and Drugs (Milk Act), 1935
• Public Health (Saorstát Eireann) (Preservatives, etc., in Food) Regulations, 1928
• Milk and Dairies Act, 1935
• Milk and Dairies (Amendment) Act, 1956

All dairy holdings are visited regularly and without prior notice. This ensures the maintenance of high standards of hygienic practices, provision of optimal structural standards and the monitoring of the health status of animals used in the production of milk destined for human consumption. All of these measures are intended to protect public health.