AGBIO/FDSC 521: Food Defense
Lesson 5: Sunflower Dairy Case Study – Part I
Vulnerability Assessment of a Milk Processing Facility – Part I
Overview
Participants will utilize assessment skills to evaluate vulnerabilities of a simulated dairy
processing facility.
Objectives
• Familiarize yourself with dairy processing and layout at Sunflower Dairy
• List the steps that go into making milk
• Conduct a mini risk assessment
Video
This video shows scenes from a milk processing facility with a fictitious name and
location. Keep in mind that this facility may not reflect production practices in all dairy
processing plants across the United States. The video will present pertinent information
about Sunflower Dairy to familiarize students with the facility and the process for making
fluid milk. The data and information presented in the video and in the text are necessary
to complete the vulnerability assessment exercise in this module.
Video Transcript
In this video, we will go through the steps of processing milk from the delivery of the raw
milk to the distribution of the final product. Sunflower Dairy is a small dairy facility
located in central Pennsylvania. They employ 23 full time employees and 3 temporary
workers. Sunflower Dairy gets all its milk from dairy farms located within a 50 mile
radius of the facility. In addition to fluid milk, this dairy manufactures sour cream,
various cheeses, ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sherbet. Now, letʼs look at the process
for making fluid milk.
Before the milk transporter can do anything, the seal must be removed from the tanker.
This seal was placed on the truck before it left the dairy farm to help ensure that the milk
was not tampered with during transport. Samples of milk are collected from the tanker
and stored in a refrigerator. These will be tested in the lab before the milk can be
processed. Next, the driver enters data about the delivery into the process controller.
The milk is unloaded from the tanker through an intake pipe, filtered to remove
particulate matter and pumped into a large refrigerated tank where it is stored until
processing time. But before processing can begin, the samples of raw milk previously
taken must be analyzed for antibiotics, somatic cell counts, and other properties. Upon
approval, the raw milk is pumped from the holding tank, through the pasteurization
process. All processing lines and tanks were previously cleaned and sanitized before
beginning each dayʼs run.
AGBIO/FDSC 521: Food Defense
Lesson 5: Sunflower Dairy Case Study – Part I
For chocolate milk, the milk first passes through a blending tank where the cocoa and
sugar are added. All milk goes to the balance tank where vitamins are added to enrich
the milk and through a separator to remove milk fat. Finally, the milk is pasteurized to
destroy pathogenic bacteria to ensure a safe product for consumers and to extend the
shelf life of the milk. The milk then travels through closed stainless steel lines to the
bottle fillers where it is fed into filler bowls from which the milk is packaged into
individual containers.
The workers collect the containers and place them on a conveyer belt that delivers the
milk into the milk cooler. The sealed containers are kept in cold storage until ready for
delivery. The milk is delivered to local schools and a retail store where it is enjoyed by
students and members of the community.
Background
Sunflower Dairy is a small dairy facility located in central Pennsylvania that has been in
business for over 25 years. The facility employs 23 full time employees and 3 temporary
workers. Sunflower Dairy gets all its milk from dairy farms located within a 50-mile
radius of the facility.
In addition to fluid milk, this dairy manufactures sour cream, cream cheese, hard
cheeses, ice tea, orange juice, ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sherbet.
Sunflower Dairy has the capacity to process in excess of 50,000 gallons of fluid milk per
day. The company produces approximately 1% of the stateʼs milk supply. The dairy
facility is located in a town of 50,000 people. The dairy sells all of their products in their
retail store as well as distributes fluid milk daily to approximately 25 school cafeterias
within a 100 mile radius. It is estimated that the milk from this facility is distributed to
thousands of school children and consumers each day.
Fluid milk processing
Raw milk is collected from farms daily and delivered to the facility in 6,000 gallon tanker
trucks in the tanker truck receiving bay. The receiving bay is located outside of the
facility. After arriving in the receiving bay, a worker opens the sealed tanker to take a
sample and hooks up the receiving lines.
The plant routinely checks the milk for temperature, antibiotics, bacterial counts, and
somatic cell count. These steps are necessary to ensure that safe and wholesome
products are introduced into the facility. After arriving in the receiving bay, a worker
opens the sealed tanker to take a sample. The samples are left in a refrigerator in the
receiving bay until the plant employee can process the samples. Following testing, milk
is filtered to remove particulate matter and pumped into a holding tank or silo (50,000
gallons) where it is stored at <45°F until further processing.
After leaving the holding tank or silo, the raw milk enters the plant and arrives at the
balance tank. When flavored milk is being produced, the proper ingredients are added
2 AGBIO/FDSC 521: Food Defense
Lesson 5: Sunflower Dairy Case Study – Part I
to the raw milk to give the desired flavor (chocolate, strawberry, etc.) before
pasteurization. Then, the raw milk is homogenized to break up fat globules, producing a
more homogeneous and desirable product. Vitamins may be added to enrich the milk.
One of the most important steps in the process of making fluid milk is pasteurization. In
this step, the milk is subjected to a short time and high temperature process to destroy
pathogenic bacteria. This scientifically-proven process ensures a safe product for
consumers as well as extending the shelf life of refrigerated milk for several days. Then,
pasteurized milk is stored in sanitized storage tanks (600 gallons) known as the
pasteurized milk storage tank until ready for packaging. The storage tanks are cleaned
and sanitized between each filling.
From the pasteurized storage tank, the milk travels through stainless steel lines to a
filler line where milk collects in the bottle filler holding tank (50 gallons) and is dispensed
into appropriate jugs or cartons. The filler line is located inside the facility in a highly
visible and busy area. The workers collect the containers and place them on a conveyer
belt that delivers the milk into the milk cooler. Milk is transported and kept in cold
storage until ready for distribution.
Milk is sold in half pint (4 oz), pint (8 oz), quart (16 oz), ½ gallon (32 oz), gallon (64 oz)
jugs or cartons. Sunflower Dairy sells half pints of 1% regular, chocolate, and strawberry
milk to the elementary schools; pints are sold to middle and high schools. Pints, ½
gallon, and gallons of regular, chocolate, and strawberry milk also are sold in the retail
store.
Plant layout
The milk starts out in the upper right at the raw milk silo and the receiving bay and is
distributed throughout the dairy. Keep in mind there is potential for access in the loading
docks or receiving bay. The retail store is also an area of potential access. Take a few
minutes to look over the floor plan, notice the different areas where equipment and
product is stored as well as the all the doors in the facility.
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Lesson 5: Sunflower Dairy Case Study – Part I
Activity
Please complete the following tasks:
1. Develop a draft flow diagram for the milk process.
2. List nodes/points in the process where intentional contamination can occur and
provide a brief rationale for your choices.
3. List potential mitigation strategies at these nodes/points (especially those that
address the 3 Pʼs- people, physical security, and processes) and provide a brief
rationale for your choices.
4. List any additional issues that Sunflower Dairy faces.
Upon completion, students will meet as a group to:
1. Present their draft flow diagram, potential nodes/points, mitigation strategies, and
other issues
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Lesson 5: Sunflower Dairy Case Study – Part I
2. Review each of the otherʼs information
3. Discuss how the information compares/differs to other studentsʼ diagrams
4. Come to a consensus on a flow diagram, potential nodes/points, mitigation
strategies, and other issues
Check with your professor for instructions about the group meeting (discussion forum,
Adobe Connect, Skype, etc.)
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