US Commercial Cheese Dairy - Lab Testing Requirements

[Justin Levi]

Hello from Oklahoma I've seen on websites of pro.creameries that they have a lab.for testing milk butterfat &antibiotics,and such is this a requirement to be grade-a, and where can I get it?

[linuxboy]

No, not a requirement to be in house for testing.

Antibiotic testing you can do with a kit. Milk numbers you usually do with an ultrasonic tester like a lacticheck or with traditional methods as defined by standards such as AOAC.

You can buy a lacticheck unit or similar, or do your own testing per AOAC standards.

For pathogens, you can use agar with selective enumeration or 3M film.

[ConnieG]

and if that sounds like Greek to you  , here's the website of a dairy lab http://www.dairymd.com/

[Justin Levi]

 ???Greek X10!!!! Thank you for the info. Sounds very intimidating, but I'm not afraid to learn, seems the more difficult it is the more I want to learn . The in house lab as you called it linuxboy seems to be a little better way for me to go as I haven't the slightest clue where in Oklahoma to send to have test done. I thought that you were required to have a lab for bottled milk. I am working on putting together a Grade-A dairy/processing facility where we plan on bottling some milk but plan on mostly yogurt and soft cheeses where can I go to find these kits. I went to the website ConnieG sent me to I was there for a short time, looks as if they do the testing for you or did I miss it???

[Sailor Con Queso]

You should talk with your state dairy inspector if you haven't already. They will tell you what they require and help you identify resources.

[linuxboy]

Yes, exactly. Likely you're required to use an approved lab and send at least monthly samples in. The in-house lab is helpful if you're doing your own pathogen testing and/or have rigid HACCP requirements.

[ConnieG]

Yes, that lab does the testing for you.  If I need to send an occasional sample in (I don't sell anything) I use them - but I can see that for regular testing you would want to figure out how to do it yourself.

If you do need them before you get set up, you can overnight your sample or some things can be frozen - they're just outside of Denver so not too far a stretch by mail for you.

[Justin Levi]

 Thanks for your help.I really didn't know what to expect about all the lab work required I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be in house testing or not I just knew some had to be done. If I need to overnight it to a lab that'll be ok I can get a discount since I'm contracted to FedEx Home Delivery.

[FRANCOIS]

Ask your inspector, as each state varies.  For tests that need to be done before every bottling (say antibiotics) you can do those in-house with a simple test kit.  Your state may even have a lab you can send samples to for a much reduced fee, but always keep a backup sample in case they mess it up (this is experience talking).

[Justin Levi]

ok thanks, thought of that but didn't know if you could do that or not . good to know.

[FRANCOIS]

I could tell you horror stories about state testing.  Weston Price recommends, and rightly so, that you keep back up samples.  We used to make our inspector witness sampling and then sign the back up bottle which we kept on ice.  Ironically a lot of our testing problems stopped after we started doing that.  I think Weston Price suggests filming the whole thing as well, but that seemed over the top to me.