🔬 Laboratory
Also known as: lab
Checks the quality of incoming milk and finished products.
A laboratory is a place with instruments where the quality of milk and dairy products is tested. A dairy laboratory checks the quality of milk. At a dairy plant, every tanker of raw milk is tested on arrival, and finished products are tested before they are sent to shops. There are labs at large farms and independent ones too.
A lab has centrifuges, scales, incubators, glassware and automatic analysers. Here they measure fat, protein, acidity, density, the number of bacteria and somatic cells, and look for traces of antibiotics. Somatic cells are mostly white blood cells. If there are many of them, the cow has an inflamed udder (mastitis). In the European Union, bulk milk must have no more than 400,000 of them per millilitre, and in most US states no more than 750,000.
Many methods were invented more than a hundred years ago. For example, fat is still often measured with the Gerber method, patented in 1891. The fat is separated with acid and a centrifuge, and the amount is read off the marks on a glass tube. The lab results decide whether the milk is accepted and how much the farmer is paid for it.
How it connects to milk
🔬 Laboratory ← linked ← 🍷 Oenologist → kind of → 🍷 Wine → linked → 🥛 Milk
Links
- What happens here
- ✅ Quality control
- Who works here
- 🧑🔬 Laboratory technician
- Wine and milk
- 🍷 Oenologist
Frequently asked questions
What do labs test in milk?
Fat, protein, acidity, density, bacteria, somatic cells and traces of antibiotics.
What are somatic cells in milk?
They are mostly white blood cells. There are many of them if the cow has an inflamed udder.
What is the somatic cell count limit for milk?
In the European Union, no more than 400,000 per millilitre; in most US states, no more than 750,000.