Promoting the improvement of dairy quality and safety

About DSA Laboratory Services

On 22 May 2019, the dairy industry reached an important milestone with the official opening of the Dairy Standard Agency’s (DSA) independent laboratory, DSA Lab Services, in Centurion. DSA Lab Services is the latest strategic project development of the DSA and renders a support service to the organised dairy industry, retail and government structures. 

The establishment of the DSA Lab Services project of DSA was a direct result of the lack of a harmonised (standardised) system at national level for the calibration of laboratory instruments for the measurement of somatic cell count and other quality parameters of milk which in many instances resulted in disputes regarding laboratory test results not in the interest of the dairy industry and other stakeholders such as external, private and state-owned laboratories. 

• The laboratory is currently fully functional, and also supports the DSA statutory monitoring project relating to milk and other dairy products. 
• The DSA Lab Services currently conducts the following tests on milk and other dairy products in support of its statutory National Dairy Monitoring Programme and related projects such as consumer complaints and special investigations to determine compliance in terms of food safety, product composition and metrology standards: 
  • Milk 
  • Mass (packed products) 
  • Phosphatase 
  • Inhibitory substances 
  • Contagious abortion (raw milk)(analysis outsourced to ARC-OVI) 
  • Freezing point (added water) 
  • Fat, protein, lactose, solids non-fat 
  • E.coli/Coliforms 
  • Aerobic counts 
  • Enterobacteriaceae 
  • Determination of Aflatoxin M1 levels in milk 
  • An array of pathogen identifications 
  • Sterility tests on UHT and sterilized milk 

Services to our milk producers include:

• testing for somatic cell counts (bulk tank and individual cows) 
• pathogen specific identification and confirmation 
• antibiotic susceptibility testing of pathogens (antibiograms) 
• fat, protein, lactose, urea determination 
• microbiological testing including psychrotrophic bacteria counts 
• antibiotic determination 
• aflatoxin M1 testing 
• water addition determination 

The following tests are conducted on dairy products other than milk:

• Mass (all) 
• E.coli/Coliforms (all) 
• Lactic acid bacteria (fermented products) 
• Yeast and moulds (fermented products) 
• FoodScan (product composition determination on fermented products) 
• pH (fermented products) 
• An array of pathogen identifications 

The DSA laboratory’s standard operating procedures

The DSA laboratory’s standard operating procedures are aligned with the ISO/SANS 17025. Qlip is the international calibration standard provider from the Netherlands responsible for the import of MUN and SCC standards as it is aligned with the IDF Gold Standard. The acceptance of the Qlip standards, was a very important step in ensuring that a single system is used in the harmonisation process of standards to mitigate the risks of disputes or litigation, especially where other international recognised reference standards for calibration of measuring equipment, which render less conservative results, were used. 

With regards to calibration standards for fat, protein and lactose, a national standard of which the values are verified by means of SANAS accredited methods is used. 

The laboratory further aims at establishing the Brucellosis Milk Ring Test once SANAS accreditation and approval from DALRRD is achieved. 

What further makes the laboratory unique is the advanced reporting system to farmers and veterinarians as well as supportive interpretation of results, all to the advantage of the milk producer. 

Future strategic development of the DSA Lab Services

To remain sustainable and to render continuous relevant services of a collective nature the DSA is also focused on: 

• Conducting research and adding where applicable, the establishment of new analytical products and services to those currently in place that can benefit the industry as a whole. 
• Based on new technology, continue to use equipment that is producing more scientifically accurate and faster test results in the interest of promoting proactive measures and product compliance by industry. 
• Targeting areas that pose food safety and quality risks in the dairy value chain through special investigations. 
• Based on food safety and product compositional risks, expand the ability of providing a platform to stimulate research and development in conjunction with the Research and Development Project of Milk SA and academic institutions. 
• Expanding abilities to deliver dairy analytical and related technological information via the internet in support of the industry. 
• Serving the industry in the context of its mandate and not striving to be a major competitor to external private analytical entities. 
• Where possible, consider economical sharing initiatives by avoiding the purchase of already available services at shared-research laboratories such as academic institutions. 

Contact the DSA Laboratory Services

For further information contact the DSA Lab Services at:
012 665 4250 or Riana at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..