Ensuring the quality of milk is essential for safe consumption. That’s why milk quality testing and quality control are key to prove it meets certain standards. In this short article, you’ll learn how to check for milk quality in the dairy industry, what methods are used, and much more.
Why Perform a Milk Quality Test?
Milk quality is the most important factor in dairy production. It affects milk’s nutritional value, taste, and safety. As such, milk quality control tests are important to ensure quality and safety. But quality control in the dairy industry is a relatively complex process that requires a lot of time and resources.
Milk should be tested for multiple parts, including: purity, chemical composition, bacteria levels, and micro-organisms to guarantee it is safe to drink. Luckily, there are a series of tests to check the quality control of milk that should be carried out to ensure all of the above are assessed before it can be sold and consumed.
What Determines the Milk Quality?
For raw milk to be considered of a suitable quality level, it needs to be free of debris and sediment, off-flavors, abnormal coloring, low in bacterial count, and free of chemicals. These chemicals include antibiotics and detergents while being of normal composition and acidity levels. In fact, the quality of raw milk is the most important factor in determining the quality of milk products. After all, good quality raw milk is needed to produce them.
What Is High Quality Milk?
The milk needs to be hygienic and of good quality to be considered safe and suitable for consumers to consume. Therefore, good hygiene needs to be applied and practiced throughout your dairy chain.
But another key factor for determining the quality of the milk is its bacterial count. For example, the Australian Dairy defines high quality milk as those with lower bacterial counts, lower Bulk Milk Cell Count (BMCC), and meet the requirement of food quality control safety standards and food safety codes.
Meanwhile, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations define good quality raw milk as:
- Free from sediment and debris.
- Do not have abnormal color, odor, or flavors.
- Free from chemicals, including detergents and antibiotics.
- Lower bacterial count.
- Normal acidity and composition.
What Are the Common Milk Quality Testing Methods?
The milk should be tested for the following in order to evaluate whether it is suitable for consumption.
Below are some common milk quality tests:
- Measurement of quantity in volume or weight.
- The organoleptic characteristics of milk should be distinguished – appearance, taste, and smell.
- Compositional characteristics should be tested – fat, solid, and protein contents.
- The physical and chemical characteristics should be determined.
- Its hygienic characteristics should be identified– hygienic conditions, cleanliness, and quality.
- Adulteration should be managed – with water, preservatives, added solids, etc.
- The residue of any drugs should be tested.
Other Methods to Quality Control Milk
The milk quality testing methods can range from the most very simple ones for small-scale dairy producers such as smell, taste, organoleptic tests of milk. Then there is density meter or lactometer testing for measuring the exact density of milk; clot-on-boiling, a type of testing to tell whether milk is sour or abnormal; acidity testing to determine the lactic acid level; as well as the Gerber test which is a milk fat checking test.
But the milk testing methods can also include tests conducted in laboratories, such as the Methylene Blue Dyue Reduction Test (MBRT) used to assess the microbiological quality of the milk.
How To Improve the Milk Quality?
Naturally, the demand for safe, quality milk and dairy products is high. However, the milk can go bad relatively quickly – which means your quality management practices and milk quality control needs to be taken seriously and approached in a sensible and professional manner.
If you’re a collector, processor, or marketer in the field, it’s important to follow the correct steps and methods for ensuring quality and safety. Hygiene practices are of paramount importance when producing milk and milk products. Bad hygiene can cause bacteria to arise from an organism, which is passed on into the milk or could potentially contaminate the equipment. Make sure to clean vats and milking machinery properly.
Another major influence is a higher BMCC, and this is usually an indication of a high level of mastitis infection in the cow herd.
Aside from these factors, there are a series of food safety regulations and standards that you’ll need to comply with such as the HACCP food safety standard – and these can vary depending on region and country- level.
Conclusion: Milk Quality Testing: Key Information in 2022
Quality control test for milk is of paramount importance to ensure that the milk is safe for consumers to consume. The milk quality testing methods range from simplified ones such as visual and smelling to more advanced ones, including an organoleptic test of milk and the MBRT test.
With over 25 years of experience in quality assurance, AQM BD is ready to help your business build a robust quality assurance process – throughout your entire dairy supply chain. We offer a wide range of services such as food and agricultural inspections, supplier audits, and consulting on how to improve your current process and make it more efficient. Contact us today for more information!
