On-farm microbiological testing of raw milk

Six producers of raw milk will be trialling daily on-farm microbiological testing of their milk to improve confidence in milk safety.

The trial seeks to find out if on-farm testing is a practicable solution for different farms of different types and scales. In addition to carrying out microbiological testing the farmers will be documenting farm management practices and any alterations in habits/conditions which may contribute to test failure. This should allow farmers to spot management patterns which may cause testing failure.

If the trial is successful it will improve the safety of raw milk for consumers, and enable farmers to change farm management practices which risk milk hygiene and safety. This should also save farmers stress and money for expensive laboratory testing and lost milk if they fail statutory milk tests.

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The benefits

• Raw milk producers are required to undertake regular laboratory testing of their product for hygiene indicators (coliforms and total viable count).
• Results usually arrive around a week later, long after the milk is consumed/processed. This is too late to ensure the safety of a particular batch of milk, and means that the cause of the test failure is not easy to identify.
• If milk fails to pass the tests there is a pause in sales until the problem is remedied which is costly and leads to milk wastage. 
• On-farm testing has the potential to give real-time, daily information about the safety of the milk with almost immediate results.
• This should increase confidence in the safety of each batch of milk,
• And indicate whether management practices are risking milk safety, and if so which practices.

Trial design

Five of the participants will be supported to set up their own on-farm lab through sharing of equipment sources, written instructions and a demonstration workshop at the sixth farm: Fen Farm Dairy.

There are two parts to the trial:

1.     TVC and coliforms will be tested on-farm by participants using 3M Petrifilms.

2.    Farmers will document farm management practices and any alterations in habits/conditions which may contribute to test failure, thereby spotting management patterns which may cause testing failure.

Test results will be analysed to look for any trends over the duration of the trial, accuracy in comparison with laboratory test results, and correlation with management practices.  Observations and feedback will also be used to assess the utility of the method, any impacts of on-farm testing on participant farms, and any common factors influencing milk microbiology.

The trial has been approved by the Food Standards Agency, with certain conditions which shall communicated to the triallists.