How is Milk Made? The Processing and Packaging of Milk

How is Milk Made?

The Processing and Packaging of Milk

Have you ever wondered how creamy, delicious milk gets from our cows to your table? Here's a quick summary which explains the basics

about milk processing.

Cows GrazingMost of our food came from farms, but the cow gives us milk, cream and butter. Cows are referred to as the foster mothers of the human

race because they produce most of the milk that we consume.

On a normal day, cows spend about 8 hours eating, 8 hours sleeping and 8 hours chewing their cud. Cows are usually provided with a fresh paddock of grass in the

morning after milking and another fresh paddock of grass in the evening after milking.

Harvesting MilkNormally cows are milked at about 6 am in the morning and again at

about 5 pm in the evening.

A dairy cow will not begin to produce milk until she has her first calf, which occurs around the age of 2.

Cows are normally milked 2 times per day, however some high producing herds are milked 3 times per day. Milking time takes about 5 minutes per cow but depends on the type of machine and the

amount of milk the cow is producing.

Storing MilkMilk is stored on farm at 4 degrees Celsius and less for no

longer than 2 days.

Vats and silos are agitated to make sure that the entire volume remains cold and milkfat does not separate from the milk. After the milk has been collected, the storages are cleaned before the

farmer milks again.

Transporting MilkThe milk is collected every 1 or 2 days. The trucks that collect the milk are called tankers, and they are made from special stainless

steel to keep the milk cool.

The truck drivers are milk graders, who accept good qualities of milk and reject bad qualities of milk. The tanker then transports the milk to the factories for laboratory testing.

Laboratory TestingSamples of milk are tested for milk fat, protein and bacteria.

If milk is unsuitable for our quality products the milk will be rejected. It is important that the samples are stored correctly.

Processing MilkWhole milk, once approved for use, is pumped into storage silos where it undergoes pasteurisation, homogenisation and further

processing.

Pasteurisation ensures all milk products are safe for human consumption by destroying all bacteria that may be harmful to health. Homogenisation involves pushing the raw

milk through an atomizer to form tiny particles so that the fat is dispersed evenly throughout the milk, stopping the fat from floating to the top of the container.

Additional processing steps include reducing the fat content by micro-filtration, increasing the storage life by ultra-high temperature (UHT) treatment and mixing or

culturing milk for flavoured and yoghurt products.

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