Have Confidence in Dairy Lab Test Results

Tuesday 02 March 2010

British dairy farmers can have confidence in their milk test results says DairyCo, after laboratories taking part in the latest round of ring trials test for butterfat, protein and lactose recorded excellent results.

After the success of last year’s ring trials in testing somatic cell counts (SCCs), DairyCo funding was expanded to support participation by Eclipse Scientific, NML and NMR laboratories in international trials for butterfat, protein and lactose. These trials include 32 laboratories in 14 different countries.

A ring trial involves sending out a portion of 13 milk samples to participating laboratories, which send their results back. These are then analysed and all laboratories are compared.

DairyCo research manager, Dr Elizabeth Berry, explains: “Milk price is set according to its constituents and quality so it is vitally important that the tests are as accurate as possible. The results of recent trials from British laboratories have been very good on reproducibility (comparing the results with other labs) and repeatability (testing the same sample repeatedly), which means farmers can be reassured that their milk is being tested to international standards and can have confidence in the results produced.”

Visit the DairyCo website for more information.