Milk testing system on way

A NEW improved regime for monitoring milk testing practices by processors for payment purposes was announced by Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Mary Coughlan, yesterday.

The move follows a Government commitment in the Social Partnership Agreement, Towards 2016 and follows extensive consultations with farming organisations and the milk processing industry.

Ms Coughlan said the new regime will include a full audit of milk testing laboratories’ facilities and management practices.

The inspections of milk testing laboratories will be organised on a more systematic basis and improved procedures for reporting and recording the results of inspections will be put in place within her department. There will be checks on calibration of the instruments used in the laboratories in testing milk for butterfat, protein, somatic cell levels, and, where it is being taken into account for payment purposes, the lactose content.

Ms Coughlan thanked the farm organisations and the processors for their co-operation in finalising this new regime, which will come into operation at the start of the new Milk Year on April 1.

IFA Dairy Committee chairman Richard Kennedy said the new protocol was only the first step in raising the standards of Irish milk testing to international best practice, paving the way for full accreditation of central, independent milk testing laboratories.