Most critical (Green): These are the most essential steps in the process that need consistent monitoring:

• Raw milk received at the processing plant can be sampled directly from the tanker using a TruDraw® collection vial and/or, more appropriately, a larger sample should be collected using a TruMotion 2 liter Collection Bag and Watson-Marlow peristaltic pump as the milk is being offloaded from the tanker. Test results on these samples are used to i) determine if the raw milk is of sufficiently high quality for acceptance by the plant; ii) determine the level of thermoduric organisms, such as spore formers, that may survive pasteurization and contaminate finished product; and iii) provide a baseline as comparison with further tests. 
• Raw milk from the balance tank of the pasteurizer should be sampled using a TruDraw collection vial injected through a TruStream sampling device positioned immediately ahead of the balance tank. Test results on these samples will be compared with those taken off the milk transport (above) and those at the high-temperature short-time (HTST) pasteurizer’s discharge. 
• The HTST pasteurizer should be sampled at its discharge. Samples from this location should be free of bacteria unless there are thermoduric lactic acid bacteria in the milk surviving pasteurization or the pasteurizer is contributing post-pasteurization contaminants from the cooling section. Tests from these samples should be carefully analyzed for Gram-positive spore formers, Gram-positive lactic acid bacteria, Gram-negative psychrotrophic bacteria, and coliforms using the appropriate analytical techniques.
• Immediately before each filling machine is the final process CCP before the finished product. Testing at this location isolates the entire process from the discharge of the pasteurizer to the filling machine and, by exclusion, isolates the filling machine. Test results from this location should be compared to those from the pasteurizer discharge and to tests performed on finished packages. If the total bacteria or coliform count from these samples is higher than the results from the HTST discharge, then post-pasteurization contaminants are coming from somewhere in the process. If the test results from finished milk samples are higher than those taken immediately before the filling machine, then the filling machine is contaminating the finished product.