Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission approves Somatic Cell Count (SCC) regulatory standard change Effective August 1, 2012, the SCC standard in Ontario Regulation 761 will change from the current 500,000 to 400,000 cells per millilitre. The SCC penalty program will not change. A producer will continue to be subject to an SCC penalty if the monthly weighted-average (MWA) SCC test is greater than or equal to the regulatory limit in the current, or most recently completed month, and two out of three previous months.

All Ontario dairy farmers were advised of their SCC penalty risk status by letter in December 2011. Producers who are at risk will receive warnings if their MWA SCC test is greater than or equal to 400,000 cells per millilitre.

Producers are responsible for monitoring their milk quality test results, including SCC tests.

The SCC standard can be found in section 52, subsection 4 of Ontario Regulation 761. The link to Ontario Regulation 761 can be found on the Dairy Farmers of Canada website under Links, then Ontario Legislation and Regulations/The Milk Act/DFO Regulations, then Milk Act Regulation 761. PD

—Information from Dairy Farmers of Ontario