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…
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…
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 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) 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…
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…
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…
I trust we all know HACCP. HACCP and me go back a long way; as a matter of fact, we were conceived in the same year! When I came across HACCP during my student years, I thought it was really boring; HACCP being methodical, slow and elaborate and me being young and restless. However these…
I’m guessing that many of you reading this blog might agree that a new language has developed while living through a global pandemic. Many of us would also likely agree that referring to the ‘new normal’ is becoming just tiring. But, what exactly does a ‘new normal’ really mean? For many of us, it means…
If we trust the sampling and testing process, we are more confident in the result and can make informed decisions. During the latter part of my career, I ended up in food safety and quality roles. I occasionally faced the dreaded phone call from the laboratory with the message, “We found X!” X was, of course, a food…
Founded in 1983, QualiTru Sampling Systems (formerly known as QMI) is the trusted partner that delivers accurate, in-process aseptic, representative, sanitary, and hygienic sampling solutions for the dairy, beverage, and liquid food industries. Read more…
