Milk Production, Dairy Technology and Clean Milk Handling
Composition
Cow milk about 3.5% fat and 8.5% SNF; buffalo milk about 6.5–7% fat and 9–9.5% SNF; water about 87%. Colostrum is thick, yellowish and rich in protein, minerals and antibodies, and is not sold as normal milk. Let-down is an oxytocin reflex, so quiet handling matters.
Clean milk production
Wash and dry the udder, discard fore-milk, milk with dry hands into stainless steel, strain, and cool to 4°C quickly. Wash utensils with hot water and chlorine (about 200 ppm) and dry them in the sun. Rapid cooling is the single biggest check on bacterial growth.
Processing and platform tests
- Pasteurisation: LTLT 63°C for 30 min; HTST 72°C for 15 s; UHT 135–150°C for 2–4 s.
- Tests: clot-on-boiling, alcohol test, methylene blue reduction test (shorter decolourisation means poorer quality), specific gravity by lactometer, fat by Gerber.
- Adulterants: starch - iodine; cane sugar - resorcinol; added water - lowered specific gravity.
Worked example
Blend 6.5% buffalo milk with 3.5% cow milk to give 4.5% fat. Buffalo parts = 4.5 − 3.5 = 1; cow parts = 6.5 − 4.5 = 2. For 100 kg: 33.3 kg buffalo + 66.7 kg cow milk. Check: (33.3 × 6.5 + 66.7 × 3.5)/100 = 4.5%.
Traps
Pasteurisation does not sterilise, so the product still needs cooling; fat and SNF are separate values; the lactometer reflects density/SNF, not fat; household boiling is not HTST.