Milk Collection or Chilling Centre

The success of a dairy plant will depend on the uninterrupted supply of good quality raw milk. One must plan as to how and how much milk will be procured. A milk producer may deliver milk to a dairy plant directly or through a contractor. Milk must be chilled to 4 o C within 3-4 hours of its milking and pasteurized as early as possible, to protect it. If there is over 500 to 1000 litres of milk available in the producer’s village, it is wise to set up a collection point called as collection centre.It will not be profitable to develop a collection centre for milk less than this quantity.This collection centre must have a provision of weighing milk, examining it organoleptically, test for acidity and milk fat content and storage. These tests form the basis of payment to the producer. If the milk is required to be stored, then a provision of cooling milk is a must. The centre then is provided with appropriate housing, light, ventilation and protection against flies. After necessary recording,milk is sent to processing plant. Figure-2.1 depicts a simple layout of a collection centre. If the quantity of milk received exceeds 1000 litres, a chilling centre is planned. Chilling centre has fairly good facility of handling larger quantity of milk.