Monitoring bulk milk quality by an integral traceability system of milk

Abstract

The Integral Traceability System for tracking and tracing the milk samples used in quality control was checked for one year while monitoring 526 milk samples from sheep’s, goats’ and cows’. This system includes a customized automated cooler for carrying samples with a smart sensor inside to store the data collected during the process, and a dongle to transfer the collected data to a computer to be further analysed. The technologies combined to record and trace milk samples on trips from farms to the laboratory (e.g. microcontrollers, sensors, radio frequency identification and global positioning system) were linked. This system allowed us to objectively know the duration of the sampling route and the temperature and time conditions of samples travelled in until they were analysed in an official dairy laboratory. These conditions ensured that the baseline milk quality was preserved, and was therefore adequate according to both European regulations and the price set to be paid for quality. Hardware and software prototypes worked successfully under the real study conditions, and this system may be proposed to become a reference method in the dairy sector.