W149-Bulk Tank Milk Quality

Who is responsible for the safety and quality of dairy products? Dairy producers? Processors? Retailers? Consumers? In fact, all of these parties – from farm to fork – share in this responsibility. What starts as a high-quality product on the farm can be ruined somewhere along this chain. However, a poor-quality, inferior raw product leaving the farm cannot be transformed into a safe and high-quality product for the consumer. Despite technical advances in milk processing, the safety and quality of dairy products is still determined on the farm. Pasteurization does provide a certain level of safety, but is not the ultimate tool for protecting and satisfying consumers. Many aspects of milk safety and quality cannot be changed through pasteurization. The dairy industry continues to develop and adopt testing methods to gauge the safety, quality and suitability of raw milk for processing. It is vital that dairy producers understand these tests and their role in producing a safe, high-quality and nutritious product.