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Creating sustainable dairy industry. The dairy industry is gathering in Auckland, New Zealand in November for the World Dairy Summit (WDS 2010).

The WDS will cover the environmental footprint of dairying. This will include an update on the Global Agenda for Action and supporting of the Green Paper on initiatives undertaken by the dairy supply chain to create a sustainable industry. To provide a comprehensive and up-to-date outline of the dairy industry’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, new examples are sought to profile in the Green Paper in November.

The Green Paper includes activities in the dairy sector to support sustainability. The new case studies should capture specific actions in one or more of the key areas of emissions reduction, energy efficiency, transport efficiency, resource efficiency and reduction in loss of milk and milk products.

The Green Paper is designed as a living document that is to be updated to reflect new initiatives. The assistance of anyone in the South African dairy industry to provide information is appreciated. A guidance note (template) provides advice on how to make an online submission; refer to www.dairy-sustainability-initiative.org, click on the Green Paper and then on Guidance for submissions to Green Paper. Please submit your case studies online by July 15, 2010 by clicking on at www.dairy-sustainability-initiative.org, Green Paper and then on Submit your Case Study. You are invited to forward this request to anyone who could make a valuable contribution to this project.

Milk fat quality ensured
A new ISO/IDF standard providing testing requirements and guidelines to determine the fat content of milk has just been released. Originally applicable to cow’s milk only, the methodology can now be used for sheep and goat’s milk, for all milk types.

Besides the extended scope, this ISO 1211|IDF 1 : 2010 standard established new precision figures for different types of milk. The dairy industry and the relevant laboratories can now compare analytical precision with these limits. With this standard, applicable for different types of products, laboratories can avoid additional internal validation steps.

“The fat content is an important quality factor of milk products. The application of this new standard throughout the dairy chain will benefit producers and consumers alike. In a context of quality assurance, standardisation is one of the fundamental steps towards the analytical equivalence. Harmonised test procedures allow the comparison of different products from various manufacturers,” says Silvia Orlandini, project leader for this edition of the standard.

ISO 1211|IDF 1 has been an important standard in the milk industry since 1969 when it was first published by IDF. The up-to-date standard will be useful to engineers and developers in the dairy industry, regulatory authorities, research institutions and the farming sector.

For any enquiries on any of these items or any other IDF-related items, contact Edu Roux at the SANCIDF office at 012 843 5701 or 082 338 7820 or send e-mail to edu.roux@agriconnect.co.za.