Membrane Filtration Sampling Blog
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Membrane Filtration Sampling

ByChris Pundmann

Membrane filtration is a widely used process in the dairy industry that separates specific components of milk and whey and then either concentrates or removes/reduces them. The technology used in cheese-making, whey protein concentration, fractionation of protein, and numerous other dairy processes requires special sampling considerations for both regulatory purposes and component analysis. It is…

cold-tolerent spore-forming bacteria
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Prevalence of Cold-tolerant Spore-forming Bacteria in the Milk Supply 

ByClarence Johnson

The shelf life of pasteurized fluid milk is challenged by bacterial contamination that enters the finished milk supply through two portals: a) contamination by Gram-negative psychrotrophic bacteria during processing after pasteurization; and b) contamination by Gram-positive spore-forming bacteria that enter primarily through the raw milk supply. In today’s processing environment, where post-pasteurization contamination is largely…

low-spore milk production - QualiTru
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Low-Spore Milk Production—The Mantra and its Benefits

ByDavid Blomquist

Guest post: We are proud to introduce our guest blogger, David Blomquist. He is a well-known and respected consultant in the dairy and food processing industry. Read his full bio at the end of this article. Low-spore milk production has financial benefits for many producers and processors. Fluid milk plants can reduce shelf-life issues by…

Preliminary Incubation Count for Measuring Raw Milk Quality
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Using Preliminary Incubation Count for Measuring Raw Milk Quality

ByDan Funke

The Preliminary Incubation (PI) Count for measuring the quality of raw milk has become increasingly popular since the production of quality milk is the number one goal of dairy farmers and cooperatives. The PI test is especially sensitive to psychrotrophic bacteria. These particular bacteria can grow at colder temperatures, which is why dairy processors are encouraging…

Bacteriophages in Dairy Processing
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Impact of Bacteriophages in Dairy Processing – Part 1

ByBrock Bigalke

The quality of milk can be negatively impacted by multiple sources of contamination in a dairy processing plant. Previous blogs focused primarily on microbial contamination of raw milk caused by various bacteria. For products such as cheese and yogurt, starter culture bacteria play a positive and essential role. However, the fermentation function of starter cultures can be threatened by another microbial contamination, bacteriophages, or phages as…

Water System Testing in Brewery
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Water System Testing for Microorganisms in a Brewery – Committed to Quality

ByGwen Raddatz

Water system testing for microorganisms in a brewery is a regular part of the process at Cold Spring Brewing Company (CSBC). It has been the hallmark of this iconic brewery for well over a century and shows its total commitment to quality. A brief history of CSBC CSBC is located in Cold Spring, Minnesota. It…

Somatic Cell Counts (SCC) and Profits
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Impact of Somatic Cell Counts on Dairy Farmers

ByDan Funke

Somatic Cell Counts (SCC) is not just a scientific term of academic interest, it has real-world implications for every dairy farmer. Simply put, lowering SCC leads to increased profits. That’s not just us saying so, we recently ran across this article, Somatic Cell Count Impacts Everything by Mike Lormore, DVM, MS, MBA, Director Cattle Technical…

Psychrotrophic bacteria in pasteurized milk
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Psychrotrophic Bacteria in Pasteurized Milk—Spoilage, Testing, and Line Sampling

ByDarrell Bigalke

Bacteria in pasteurized milk is the leading cause of spoilage and reducing shelf-life. Refer to my earlier posts, How Bacterial Generation Times Impact Fluid Milk Quality and Shelf-life and Heat-Resistant Psychrotrophic Bacteria and Their Effect on the Quality of Pasteurized Milk. In those posts, I discussed the collective efforts of the dairy industry and regulatory…

Bacteria in pasteurized fluid milk
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Maintaining the Quality of Pasteurized Fluid Milk

ByDarrell Bigalke

Quality control of pasteurized fluid milk can be complex and requires the understanding of microbial contamination, both in raw and processed milk. Aseptic and representative sampling plays an important role in monitoring raw milk quality and process monitoring for contamination within the dairy plant. Fluid milk (A commonly used term in the industry for milk…