Cornell food scientists show that a standard quality test used for raw, organic milk is insufficient for distinguishing between specific groups of bacteria, suggesting that the criteria for determining milk quality at processing plants needs to be updated.
Their work was published Jan. 20 in the Journal of Dairy Science.
“Testing milk should not be one size fits all,” as tests should be used appropriately to give the best feedback to dairy producers, said lead author Renee Lee ’21, a master’s student who works in the laboratory of Martin Wiedmann, Ph.D. ’97, the Gellert Family Professor in Food Safety in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS).
If the current test causes milk to be downgraded or rejected by processors, the farmers will earn less money or not get paid at all.
The present test, called the Laboratory Pasteurization Count (LPC), looks for thermoduric bacteria (strong enough to endure pasteurization) and does not differentiate whether bacteria form spores or not – a key factor in determining both the quality of milk and how producers need to address milk-production hygiene.
The latest scientific literature on this test is more than two decades old.
“You have to know what’s in the milk before you can troubleshoot it and develop the right corrective action,” Lee said. “There are different ways to address it.”
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Categories: New York, Livestock, Dairy Cattle