Using LIMS for Quality Control within a Dairy Manufacturing Environment

Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) enable accurate records ensuring minimal waste and enabling instant recall of test results of any process stage that enables accurate tracing across the production chain from the final dairy products back to the location of the originating animals. Xybion LIMS allows Quality Control laboratories in the dairy industry to run efficient quality checks on dairy products, automate the logging of samples, expedite the QC tasks and extract management information quickly.

Quality Control (QC) laboratories in dairy manufacturing must sample at every stage of the process as illustrated in the diagram above:

• Farmyard sampling – Ad-hoc sampling at local farms is used, especially with new farms to ensure milk quality and animal health, or farms suspected of providing contaminated products, to ensure the farm is providing good quality milk. Butterfat, protein tests and so forth may also be done at the farm level to assess milk quality if this affects the acceptability of the milk or the payments to the farmer.
• Tanker sampling – Bulk tankers typically collect milk from each farm and offload it into storage tanks in the dairy. Samples are typically taken from incoming tankers to ensure milk quality. The milk is typically isolated until QC testing is complete and then it is released for production.
• Production – Typically, dairy milk passes through skimming to ensure the correct fat content (for whole, semi-skimmed, double cream etc), pasteurization to kill bacteria, and cooling to increase the shelf-life of the product. Sample testing of the final products is used to ensure the product is fit to sell. Large customers like supermarkets may demand to see a “Certificate of Conformance” on a batch by batch basis, so this is typically sent by email and kept on file.
• Specialist products - Specialist processes for yoghurt, cheese, clotted cream and so on may also take place depending on the end products being produced. In this case, extra QC testing will take place as needed. For instance, in Clotted Cream production, monitoring of the oven temperature and bacterial counts of the final product may be performed as well as the sterility of the ovens and so forth checked.
• Shelf-Life Testing – In order to ensure dairy products have the expected shelf-life product is typically held back, stored and then re-tested. Product may be kept at an elevated temperature, for instance, to gauge deterioration in non-ideal conditions. Stability testing such as this is common in the food and beverage industry and is a key part of QC testing.
• Additional Quality checks – Swab checks across the production environment are very common to ensure the process is performed correctly: Are the tankers properly cleaned? Are the storage tanks and production machines sterilised between batches? Are Yoghurt pots sterile before use? Are contaminants within the clean water within acceptable limits? Are wastewater contaminants below legal limits? And so on. Checking the production systems is an important part of the overall quality control of the production cycle.

Importance of Quality Control in the Dairy Industry

Managing data for a wide range of analytical techniques and tracking results is of paramount importance. Crucially, the Xybion LIMS system can be configured to meet the needs of any dairy manufacturing process without the need for any programming or coding skills, thanks to its graphically based configuration tools.

Autoscribe Informatics Managing Director, John Boother, commented: “There is a huge range of quality control tests that could be required in the dairy industry, some of which will be dependent on the particular product being produced. The flexibility offered by Xybion LIMS' configuration tools means that workflows, user screens, icons, labels etc can easily be set up to match the required laboratory process flow”.

“Using a LIMS to control, manage, organize, document, analyze and report information leads to improved efficiency and functionality of data storage and manipulation”, he continued. “For example, large customers like supermarkets may demand to see a “Certificate of Conformance” on a batch by batch basis, and Xybion LIMS allows these to be generated automatically and e-mailed to the customer. At a different level, the system can expedite the release of milk from quarantine into the production process by automatically issuing pass/fail results based on tests at that stage of the process.”

Xybion LIMS allows management reports to be quickly compiled. One example would be the average bacterial counts of the dairy product over time for different batches or variations over time. This ensures that quality can be monitored and, if necessary, actions are taken to improve quality.

Samples, which are taken throughout production, might be tagged to refer them back to the original tanker/farm from which they came. In a typical production environment, raw milk is kept in isolation tanks until it has passed initial checks. Once passed the milk is then released for production. The Xybion LIMS can automate the pass/fail message to production equipment, reducing the time that milk needs to be held in quarantine and speeding up production. If laboratory equipment allows it test results may be automatically uploaded reducing human error and further increasing the throughput speed of the lab.

Key QC tests on milk products typically include:

• Resazurin – tests the bacteriological quality of milk
• TBC – Total Bacterial Count – quantitative measure of bacteria in the milk
• FPD – Freezing Point Depression – tests for extraneous water content in the milk
• Butterfat – tests for % of butterfat in the milk
• ALP – Alkaline Phosphatase – measures the level of residual ALP enzyme in milk after pasteurisation
• Temperature – records temperature, a measure of shelf life
• Smell – quick test for milk spoilage
• Plus other tests depending on milk products being produced

These tests, along with test limits and so forth are captured within the LIMS solution to ensure that testing is always done correctly. The LIMS records all results enabling them to be recalled when needed. Any changes to the tests or results are also automatically recorded to ensure proper procedure is always followed.

LIMS solutions allow management reports to be quickly compiled showing, for instance, the average bacterial counts of the product over time for different batches, or variations over time. This ensures that quality can be monitored and, if necessary, actions are taken to improve quality.

The Perfect Food & Beverage Quality Management System

Whilst Xybion LIMS is perfect for monitoring dairy production we have customers across the food and beverage industry and beyond. The broad customization potential of the Xybion LIMS solution enables it to be easily modified to suit a wide variety of industries including any aspect of quality control within the production environment. You can learn more about Food & Beverage LIMS here.

For further Information on LIMS for Dairy Manufacturing Environments please contact us.