Milk
Quality Checks on Dairy Farm
- Farms are inspected regularly to ensure that quality standards are maintained.
- Cows are monitored regularly to ensure good health. Only healthy cows produce optimal amounts of milk in the most economical way.
- As soon as milk leaves the cow it is cooled and is kept cold at all times.
- Before milk can be picked up it must be inspected and graded by a licensed bulk milk tank grader. It is the grader’s responsibility to ensure that the milk is cold (below 4°C), smells fresh and looks clean.
- A milk sample is taken from every farm tank when milk is picked up. This sample is then taken to a certified lab where it is tested.
- Milk is transported to the dairy in stainless steel tanker trucks. These trucks are also certified before they can carry milk and are inspected regularly.
Yogurt
Major quality control points for yogurt manufacture include:
Ingredients:
- Use of milk that is of good initial quality, free from antibiotics.
- Storage of milk at proper temperatures and for no longer than predetermined time periods.
- Use of high quality ingredients (to be added after heat treatment) which conform to Microbiological criteria with respect to quality and absence of pathogens.
Process:
- Ensuring that milk is correctly standardized and that the materials used for standardization are Of good quality.
- Ensuring that appropriate pressure is used during the homogenization process.
- Ensuring that heat treatments are correctly applied and equivalent to pasteurization.
- Verifying that fermentation proceeds to a predetermined acidity (pH) level.
- Ensuring that the product cools according to a predetermined pattern
- Ensuring that handling is limited to avoid contamination of and damage to the final product.
- Ensuring even distribution of added ingredients and consistent filling.
Cheese
Chemical and microbiological analyses of cheese milk, finished cheese and cheese whey are required to maintain efficient operations and to ensure food safety and quality.
Milk Analysis
Milk composition analyses include both fat and protein, determined by infrared milk analyzers. We Note that casein content rather than total protein content is the critical parameter with respect to cheese yield.
Cheese Analysis
Cheese composition analyses include fat , moisture, salt and pH. Cheese pH is measured at the time of manufacture, 3 – 4 days after manufacture and periodically during curing. Other composition parameters should be determined several days after manufacture to permit time for equilibration of soluble components. With respect to process and quality control, the ‘pH profile’ during manufacture and curing is vital. ‘pH profile is a term I use to describe the set of pH values at critical process control points in the cheese making process.
