Supply Room. The supply rooms used for the storing of packaging materials, containers, and miscellaneous ingredients shall be kept clean, dry, orderly, free from insects, rodents, and mold and maintained in good repair. Such items stored therein shall be adequately protected from dust, dirt, or other extraneous matter and so arranged on racks, shelves, or pallets to permit access to the supplies and cleaning and inspection of the room. Insecticides, rodenticides, cleaning compounds, and other nonfood products shall be properly labeled and segregated, and stored in a separate room or cabinet away from milk, dairy products, ingredients, or packaging supplies.

Boiler and tool rooms. The boiler and tool rooms shall be separated from other rooms where milk and dairy products are processed, manufactured, packaged, handled, or stored. Such rooms shall be kept orderly and reasonably free from dust and dirt.

Toilet and dressing rooms. Adequate toilet and dressing room facilities shall be conveniently located.

Toilet rooms shall not open directly into any room in which milk or dairy products are processed, manufactured, packaged, or stored; doors shall be self-closing; ventilation shall be provided by mechanical means or screened openings to the outer air; fixtures shall be kept clean and in good repair.

All employees shall be furnished with a locker or other suitable facility and the lockers and dressing rooms shall be kept clean and orderly. Adequate hand-washing facilities shall be provided and curable, legible signs shall be posted conspicuously in each toilet or dressing room directing employees to wash their hands before returning to work.

Laboratory. Consistent with the size and type of plant and the volume of dairy products manufactured, an adequately equipped laboratory shall be maintained and properly staffed with qualified and trained personnel for quality control and analytical testing. A central laboratory serving more than one plant may be acceptable if conveniently located to the dairy plants and if samples and results can be transmitted without undue delay.

Starter facilities. Adequate sanitary facilities shall be provided for the handling of starter cultures.

E 1.3 Facilities.

Water supply.

There shall be an ample supply of both hot and cold water of safe and sanitary quality, with adequate facilities for its proper distribution throughout the plant, and protection against contamination and pollution. Water from other facilities, when officially approved, may be used for boiler feed water and condenser water provided that such waterlines are completely separated from the waterlines carrying the sanitary water supply, and the equipment is so constructed and controlled as to preclude contamination of product contact surfaces. There is no cross connection between the safe water supply and any unsafe or questionable water supply, or any other source of pollution through which contamination of the safe water supply is possible. Bacteriological examination shall be made of the sanitary water supply at least twice a year, or as often as necessary to determine purity and suitability for use in manufacturing dairy products. Such tests shall be made by the State regulatory agency except for supplies that are regularly tested for purity and bacteriological quality, and approved by the appropriate regulatory officer. The results of all water tests shall be kept on file at the plant for which the test was performed.