The safe consumption and distribution of milk and dairy products is highly regulated to keep customers safe. All farms are required to submit milk bulk tank samples for testing to ensure that there are no antibiotics present in the milk. When a milk tanker is contaminated, it costs farms and milk cooperatives money. That’s where services offered by a milk analysis laboratory come in to help prevent this problem from happening for dairies.

As many farms diversify their offerings, and explore selling their own dairy products to consumers, testing is necessary to ensure that government regulations are being followed. Working with a certified lab that has numerous departments for testing different types of dairy products is helpful for receiving results quickly and in one location. However, it is important to be mindful of the regulations required for all different dairy products and for what regulations are required locally, in the state, and even federally. In the following two sections are some common regulatory testing services required for dairy products.

Test Raw Milk to be Sold to Consumers

The sale of raw milk to consumers can be tricky for dairy farms. There are many regulations that require farmers to not only track the creation of the product but that it is safe for consumption. Working with a laboratory can provide dairies with the full picture of what is actually in their milk products.

Dairy One’s Check Mark Laboratory is a leading wet chemistry laboratory. It can test all types of mammal milk (cow, goat, pig), milk replacers, cream and whey. It is certified by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, and staff members are certified as well. What does mean for dairy farms? The results from this lab can be trusted and follow industry regulations.

The other service that Check Mark provides is weekly raw bovine milk calibration standards that other laboratories use for testing purposes. Raw milk testing is a big benefit for farms that are selling milk to people directly; a test done by Check Mark will cover what many states require for these sales. The final service covered by this lab is weekly somatic cell control samples that are manufactured and sold to other laboratories. Again, this service shows how Check Mark is a resource to other laboratories.

For farms, all these services are a way to screen their raw milk for sale. As many milk cooperatives direct the sale of raw milk to other dairy products, a test from Check Mark will help confirm that the raw product is safe to be turned into other food items.

Analyze Dairy Products for Farm Store Sales

Every farm is required by law to submit a bulk milk tank sample for testing with every shipment of milk from their farm. Many cooperatives have milk truckers collect this sample and send it for analysis either at the production facility lab or another lab location. Most dairy farms have a system like this in place, however, much like testing out new methods of breeding or task completion, sending a bulk tank sample to a different lab could potentially lead to more data to review. Or perhaps the lab can test the sample for other components. It never hurts to explore something new.

Dairy One can test milk bulk tank samples, which is what the Bacteria and Regulatory Laboratory does for farms. Outside of regular screening for milk components and somatic cell count, dairies can also select to have additional testing for the presence of antibiotics or even added water. Not only are these tests conducted to deliver a safe product to consumers, but cooperatives also use these results for how much is paid to a farm.

It's not just milk bulk tanks that this laboratory tests for, finished product testing is another service that farms, milk plants and others use to ensure safe products. Finished products include heavy cream, ice cream, yogurt, powder products, and some butter and cheese. For milk plants that run extended testing in New York state, the Regulatory Lab can test samples pulled from these sessions. Other groups that benefit from these services include ice cream stands and farms that sell their own products to consumers. So if a farm is exploring opening its own store to sell dairy products, finished product testing is a big help to ensure that products meet regulations for sales.

This lab can also run testing for specialized needs such as coliform, preliminary incubation, lab pasteurization and others. Each of these tests gives a bigger picture of what’s present in a milk sample. Plus, if farms need these details for the sale of the milk, it’s easy to pull results from one milk sample that has already been submitted to Dairy One. Farmers can either submit a sample themselves or receive a visit from a DHI field technician.

Milk and dairy products require a wide range of testing before being sold to consumers. The labs at Dairy One help farms, cooperatives and milk plants test these products to make sure they are following regulations. For more information about these services, contact producerlab@dairyone.com or call (607) 252-2048.