Central Milk Testing in Brazil
Milk testing development supported
by Fourier Transform Infrared analysis
Central milk testing laboratory, Clínica do Leite is leading the way for milk testing in Brazil with the use of state-of-the-art Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR)
analysis. Laboratory manager, Laerte Cassoli reports on developments.
The Clínica do Leite central milk testing
(CMT) Milk Clinic is one of the eight
quality Laboratories. It belongs to the
Animal Science Department of ESALQ/
University of São Paulo. It was started in
1996.
We have two distinct types of clients:
the companies that provide tank samples
for quality control; and the farms that provide animal samples for livestock control.
Currently, there are 310 companies that
send, on a monthly basis, approximately
50,000 samples from 30,000 farms across
the country. The farms (1,100) send nearly 40,000 samples of individual samples
(animal) every month.
milk per year. The number of dairy farms
is somewhere between 600,000 and
800,000. Around 97 % of farms produce
less than 600 kg/day.
However, 16% of dairy farms produce
40% of the milk and the top 100 dairy
farms produce 2.3% of total production.
The number of analyses carried out, in-
cluding somatic cell count, total bacteria
count, urea (MUN), and drug residues,
has been increasing in recent years (Figure 1). Samples come from the main milk
Due to the high demand for analyses,
the laboratory used to run in three shifts
(24 hours) seven days a week. In 2008,
the CMT Milk Clinic acquired two new
CombiFoss™ FT+) to increase its capacity of analyses and offer new analyses to
clients. As a result of the increase of installed capacity, we started to operate in
two shifts, keeping the lead-time to provide the results in two days.
of basic equations and mainly due to the
after sales service.
The payback analysis (Table 1) showed
that in only 22 months we were able to recover the investment made in CombiFoss.
Moreover, we have aggregated value to
our services by offering industries and
farms more tools for the analysis process.
Benefits
The equipment we had in operation before was older than 12 years and present!!$!
new FTIR allowed us to offer new types
of analyses, such as freezing point (FPD),
casein and FFA.
*!<=
'#ment from the government, however it
Why choose FOSS and FTIR?
In the project viability analysis, we opted was being carried out by laboratories
for the FTIR methodology which would equipped only with traditional methods,
allow us to carry out new analyses with which have low analytical performance
freezing point, casein and free fat acids, and high cost.
besides doing MUN analysis at zero cost.
The other analyses like casein and FFA
On the market, there were other suppli- !& ! > # ers; however we opted for FOSS because study, research and application for the in!"!#$&' ?!#$>!!$
Item
Cost reduction analysis of MUN
New analyses (FPD, Casein, FFA)
Operational and maintenance cost reduction
*#
Investment
Pay-back time
Figure 1. Evolution of number of analyses
12
U$/year
65,000
130,000
35,000
230,000
420,000
1.8 year
Table 1. Analysis of investment CombiFoss™ FTIR +
In Focus, Vol. 33, No 1, 2009
to diagnose the situation and evaluate data
obtained so far.
! @&' B
Paulo allows us to rely on a sector devoted to research and development which
aims to generate knowledge and disseminate it to the community. All samples are
being analysed regarding all new parameters (casein, FFA, FPD, pH), independently if they were requested by the user
or not, and consequently, we are building
up a robust database which will be used in
research and proposed applications.
?!!!#!
sales service and the technical assistance.
We can rely on knowledgeable professionals for each piece of equipment who
give us support on the use of equipment
and results. Moreover, it is worth mentioning the FOSS CMT online club area
which allows us to keep in touch with
CMT professionals from all over the
world and therefore we can exchange experiences and knowledge.
The performance of this equipment
has also generated some savings because
of the smaller number of breakdowns.
Furthermore, a more friendly software
system has facilitated data control and
register of our management system ISO
17.025. The equipment has a 300 samples
per hour capacity and we are investigating
the investment viability of 500 per hour.
How the results are used
Samples are used for legal control (Government) and also for quality payment.
These results of bulk tank samples
analyses are available to producers via
the Internet or SMS, who use them on
a daily basis to monitor processes. For
instance, any change in bacteria count
*JK''
the producer who will be able to act im'#"!
The MUN analysis, is not mandatory,
however for nearly 20% of the samples,
the analysis is required. These generate
a great deal of important information.
Roughly 30% have MUN levels lower
than 10 mg/dL, which already indicates
protein restriction in the diet. Likewise,
for the relatively new area of testing
casein, results show differences among
farms and this information may be used
to compose programs of quality payment.
For farms, the CMT Milk Clinic has
developed a series of visual reports to
facilitate the interpretation and use of results (software web-based) that analyses
the nutritional status which is elaborated
from results of composition and MUN.
The producer and technician can eas' #" ! If a list of results were sent, they would
need more time to make such decision,
besides this decision could be mistaken.
Variations in casein numbers. In the example, farms are observed with casein
numbers from 75 to 80, a huge difference
considering that the milk will be used for
cheese production.
Example report in which, based on MUN
and protein results, energy and protein
balance of the diet is diagnosed in an
easy to interpret form.
„
by Laerte Cassoli, Lab Manager, Clínica
do Leite, Brazil
More information about FOSS solutions
for the dairy industry at www.foss.dk/
dairy
In Focus, Vol. 33, No 1, 2009
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