Human Milk Banking in North America - Screening and Processing Milk

Screening and Processing Milk

In addition to careful screening of donors, each batch of milk is tested for bacterial counts before pasteurization. Some milk banks pool milk before testing it, others test each mother's milk as it comes in before it is pooled.

Milk banks require freezers and pasteurizers for processing milk. Most milk banks have two freezers, for unprocessed and processed milk. The HMBANA guidelines state that "all milk should be heat treated for 30 minutes at greater than 56°C. Heat treatment of milk occurs at 56°C for 30 minutes or 62.5°C for 30 minutes (Holder pasteurizing)" (Arnold, 1997, p. 243). At the end of pasteurization, another sample of milk is tested to make sure the treatment was effective. Colony counts should be zero and no bacterial growth should be detected (Arnold, 1997). Containers for pasteurizing must be able to withstand heating and cooling without breakage or leaking. Most containers are recyclable, usually glass or plastic.