Quality all the way with raw milk payment analysis

Milk output and demand has risen sharply over recent decades. In response, dairy farms are becoming fewer, but bigger. Operational costs and productivity are in focus, but so too is the need to meet consumer interest in animal welfare, use of antibiotics and organic farming methods. Above all, sustainability is top-of-mind for the industry and consumers alike.

Living up to high demands for productivity on the one hand and quality standards and good farm practice on the other can be a challenge for any dairy farmer. Inconsistencies in compositional quality for parameters such as fat and protein (and casein) can compromise dairy production. Poor hygiene can affect shelf life. Accidental or deliberate adulteration can threaten food safety.

Streamlined and automated milk payment analysis are more relevant than ever in ensuring that the industry can uphold quality standards while helping farmers to continuously improve the productivity and sustainability of the raw milk supply.

Setting industry standards

FOSS solutions for milk payment have a unique level of compliance with international industry standards.

Raise the hygiene level with fully approved rapid bacteria count

Milk with a high bacterial load is an undesirable raw material for dairy production. Although pasteurisation kills the majority of bacteria, their metabolites may cause off-flavours, and enzymes continue their activities resulting in product defects and reduction of shelf life. Most milk payment schemes therefore grade milk according to the level of bacteria.

Traditional plate count methods require at least two days of incubation before a result can be reported back to the farmer. Hygienic problems may go undetected for days, making corrective action more difficult and production losses larger than necessary.

Traditional plate count methods require at least two days of incubation before a result can be reported back to the farmer. Hygienic problems may go undetected for days, making corrective action more difficult and production losses larger than necessary. In contrast, the BactoScan™ FC+ delivers results in less than nine minutes. This allows warning about possible hygiene breaches to be issued the same day as the sample is drawn. The farmer is empowered to correct for leaks, insufficient cleaning or cooling in the milking system, or health problems in the herd.

Rapid method approved in USA and Europe

The FOSS BactoScan FC+ instrument is the only rapid method for testing bacteria count in raw milk to be approved by both the EU Reference Labs (EU-RL)) and NCIMS/ FDA in the USA.

The EU-RL certification of the BactoScan FC+ has been performed in accordance with EN ISO/DIS 16140-2:2013, the EURL MMP criteria and the Microval Rules and Certification Scheme. In short, this validates the BactoScan FC+ as a method which is least equivalent to reference method based on plate counting of bacteria colony forming units (EN-ISO 4833-1:2013, parts 1 and 2).

Make food safety screening a natural part of raw milk payment analysis

Raw milk is prone to accidental or deliberate contamination within the supply chain. The problem is greater in developing milk industries, but even the most well-established dairy farming and delivery systems can suffer from accidental contamination, for example, with cleaning fluids used to clean tanker trucks.

A smart line of defense is that the same analytical equipment used for raw milk analysis can also perform checks for possible adulteration at the same time.

Exploiting powerful FTIR technology, the MilkoScan™ 7 provides the most precise and widest scope of adulteration screening capabilities in the industry. You can check for deliberate or accidental adulteration while performing normal quality control tests.

Free Fatty Acids tests hold the key to better handling

The ability to test Free Fatty Acids shows how a single test can give critical insights for improvements in raw milk operations. It provides data that helps to identify possible damage to milk quality through lipolysis

A too high content of Free Fatty Acids (FFA) can cause a bitter taste in milk and rancidity in butter.

Free Fatty Acids occur when the milk fat is broken down into glycerol and free fatty acids through a chemical reaction called lipolysis, which is caused by lipase enzymes in the milk. There are two sources of lipase. One is a natural presence secreted into the milk while still in the cow and the other is bacteria entering the milk after milking and producing lipase either by excessive aeration or by agitation of the milk. The fat is exposed to attack by the lipase resulting in an increase in FFA during subsequent storage.

Thermal and mechanical treatment of the milk, such as milking, pumping, sloshing, temperature changes and transport, can result in an increase of FFA. The level of FFA is also influenced by physiological conditions such as stage of lactation, seasonal changes, age of cow, milk yield, hormonal changes, diseases and composition of fodder. FFA is easily measured by MilkoScan™ 7.