Tests promote dairy product safety
The Dairy Standard Agency (DSA) is working hard to proactively combat potential food safety risks and promote compliance with relevant legislation and standards in South Africa. The DSA is mainly concerned with improving and promoting the quality of dairy in the interest of the industry and consumers.
Complying with legal standards
The DSA annually tests some 2 500 dairy product samples for a variety of microbiological, chemical and other properties, including potential adulteration. Raw and pasteurised milk are tested for more than 17 different properties. In terms of dairy products, tests are carried out on UHT milk, condensed milk, evaporated milk, cream, cheese, butter, and fermented products such as yoghurt and buttermilk.
Product compliance
Jompie Burger, managing director of the DSA, says testing is essential to ensure that milk and milk products comply with legislation. “Unprocessed milk comprises approximately 87% water, 4,5% fat, 3,5% protein and 4,1% lactose. Minerals as solids constitute the remainder for which the DSA tests,” he says.
Product samples are collected according to strict protocols, sealed and transported to the DSA’s laboratory in Centurion where they are first checked to confirm each sample’s integrity and ensure traceability before they are opened and tested in the laboratory. This rules out the possibility of contamination.
Tests can be broadly categorised into micro-organism, chemical and metrological tests. The DSA tests for weight (packaged product), phosphatase, inhibiting agents, freezing point, fat, protein, lactose, milk solids, E. coli, coliform organisms, aerobic count, Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus aureus, aflatoxin, lactic acid, pH, yeasts and fungi and, where applicable, other pathogens.
Tests adhere to specific standards as stipulated by legislation, regulations as well as industry norms. Various government departments oversee these regulations. The standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), Codex Alimentarius and the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) are also considered.
The role of interpretation
In addition to tests having to comply with regulations, expert interpretation of laboratory reports is crucial. “The fact that our laboratory is computerised leaves little opportunity for human error. Our staff’s expertise regarding the dairy industry is invaluable.”
DSA technical staff also conduct field visits to discuss laboratory reports with clients in a bid to address food safety, product composition, and related concerns. Also part of the DSA’s mandate is communicating any non-compliance with standards to the relevant authorities
“A discussion pertaining to the report does not stop with the client; we are also tasked with, depending on the nature and risk involved, discussing it with the relevant municipal health authority as well as other authorities such as the Department of Health or the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD).” The DSA is naturally also committed to upholding strict confidentiality and protecting information such as test results.
Although the DSA has an obligation to communicate relevant information to authorities, says Burger, it is important to note that the DSA is not here to enforce the law – that task remains a function of government departments.
Future actions
The DSA is currently working on a variety of diagnostic tests which will equip them to test for brucellosis, among others. The laboratory will also be able to test, in consultation with the relevant authorities, for the presence of chemical residues such as pesticides and herbicides, parasitic agents and prohibited substances.
“However, new capital investments come with a steep price tag, even if we work together with the state,” says Burger, adding that expanding the services offered is no easy task either. The DSA is in the process of obtaining South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) accreditation. Only a handful of laboratories in the dairy industry in South Africa have thus far been granted this accreditation.” – Susan Marais, Plaas Media
For more information, send an email to Jompie Burger at jompie@dairystandard.co.za.