Technology/IT | IDM
8 2017 | international-dairy.com · 23
sterilised air ("laminar flow") over the filling
and packaging machinery. From Coca Cola
to Müller to Nestle, manufacturers are using
this preventative technique all over the
world – from Australia to Europe, from the
USA to Canada. As a result, at least this third
door blocks contamination from accessing
the foodstuff via the air in the production
plant or dairy. (Incidentally, even public water
providers such as the municipal utilities
in Paderborn and Lingen are now equipping
their elevated tanks with this system.)
Gauge pressure on vacuum
Checks by veterinarians must close the
first door, i.e. milk that is already contaminated
within the animal. The second door
of germ migration from animal to human,
through the stall and milking parlour air as
a carrier of infectious materials, could not
previously be blocked preventatively using
physical procedures. Instead of precautions,
the described aftertreatment with
chemical products to sterilise and stabilise
the shelf life had to be used. But now dairy
plant equipment specialist Fischer Planning
has obtained a German patent for milking
machine technology, which does not allow
any stall air to gain entry into the teat
cups. This method also works with gauge
pressure. In simple terms, it floods the teat
cup with sterile air from the ultra-clean filter
technology until the valve is positioned
firmly on the udder. The gauge pressure of
the air dome is above the milking vacuum
of about 40 kPa. It communicates until it
reaches the milk cooling tank, blocking the
harmful substances in the air from accessing
the raw milk. As a result, its quality improves
in the first instance and, secondly,
this method extends the permitted time
period until treatment.
In addition, farmers with milk filling stations
could also benefit from this. Since
the abolishment of the milk quota two
years ago, more and more farms rely on
direct marketing of their products. Farmers
offer their customers the option of
bottling their own dairy-fresh raw milk
from the farm using milk bottling stations.
As the natural milk is not homogenised or
pasteurised, valuable ingredients and the
special aroma are preserved. However, the
regulations demand strict hygiene from
such bottling stations. The raw milk must
be bottled by the day after its production.
With Fischer technology, the use-by date
could be extended if the authorities accept
the suggestion.
Ideal for everyone
This saves spending the profits on storage,
transportation, processing and marketing of
low-germ raw milk in Germany. And furthermore,
these advantages could penetrate into
the second and third world. Fischer Planning
talks about an immense advantage for dairy
producers and, of course, for providing the
population with a hygienic supply, for example
in India and other south and south-east
Asian countries. The German-Israeli planners
and developers have looked around there
and spoken with production plants. The majority
of farmers there milk their one, two
or maximum three cows by hand, as was the
case in Germany 50 years ago. The farmers
then carry the pitchers to the collection
point. From here, the milk must be collected
by refrigerated vehicles within half an hour
to an hour as otherwise the milk would go
off and no longer be usable. For this reason,
the large businesses must maintain fleets
and personnel of up to 50 tankers, which
constantly travel through the villages.
For this reason, Fischer Planning is considering
local small-scale milking facilities
for the cows in the surrounding area,
among other things. With the new patent,
the company is focussing less on farmers
– who would not invest in Germany anyway
for want of profitable milk prices, as their
quality already conforms to the regulations
– and more on the process plant manufacturers
and dairies. For India, for example,
the suggestion is for decentralised containers
with milking parlour and refrigerated
tank, which hygienically remove the milk
from cows and store it for at least a day.
Spokespeople for the companies there anticipate
that the vehicle fleet alone could
be reduced in this way to 15 to 20 vehicles.
The higher quality level would mean that the
raw product can be used for other things and
not, as is the norm in many Asian countries,
only turned into cheap drinking milk or some
kind of cheap cooking cheese. The low-germ
delivery also allows a higher degree of finishing
with better results. There are also many
advantages for the dairy industry in Germany.
With the gauge pressure technology, it
would be possible to construct an ultra-clean
chain to produce dairy products without preservatives
from the farm to packaging. Bernd
Genath, fischerplanning.com
Achieving sustainable production of milk
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