A Real-life Food Defense Challenge:
Bulk Milk Transportation
Conversations regarding food defense often intermingle with the closely related topics of food safety and trace- ability. This is primarily because food industry profession- als tend to think of these issues in a very broad sense under the comprehensive umbrella of food protection.
Most decision makers within any food industry organization understand the importance of food protection, yet
levels of an organization can derive
benefit from the collection, documentation, maintenance and application of traceability data. The key to
gaining buy-in from decision makers
is to speak their language. We need a
considerable amount of data to ensure food safety, food defense and
traceability, but that data can also be
used to improve operational efficiencies and reduce overall costs.
Achieving consensus on the value
of gathering data is a good first step,
but there may be many operational
hurdles along the way. It is essential
to bridge theoretical solutions with
practical applications that take into
account the day-to-day realities of
conventional operations within our
nation’s existing food production
and distribution system.
these individuals are also wary of incurring new operational expenses and implementing major changes in their
organization’s operational processes. Plus, food safety
professionals and business-minded decision makers may
not always communicate effectively. It is important for
everyone in the food supply chain to recognize that all
An Initial Look at BMT
The dairy industry presents
unique challenges to food protection, particularly in the area of bulk
milk transportation (BMT). First, the
availability of a raw milk supply
within a given geographic area is dynamic for biological reasons. In the
spring when weather conditions are
favorable for the dairy cow, milk production increases significantly. In the
summer when conditions are not favorable, production drops. To further
complicate matters, the demand for
milk fluctuates due to seasonal factors and contractual obligations with
school systems and other institu-
