UMaine Dairy Sanitation Workshop
Posted by BethCalder in Events, Learning, News on April 22nd, 2013
May 16, 2013 – 8:00am-5:00pm
Nutting Hall, Room 204 – University of Maine, Orono campus (links for directions and a campus map).
Lunch is included and coffee and snacks in the morning.
Space is limited to the first 30 people. Cost for Guild Members: $30.00 / Non-Guild Members: $60.00
This workshop will cover an overview of sanitation topics such as bacterial pathogens related to dairy products, milking/milk room sanitation, as well as facility sanitation. Ronda Stone from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry will also talk about sanitation from an inspector’s perspective. Other special guests will include Sarah Spring, Spring Day Creamery who will discuss her own recent sanitation issues and how she overcame them. We will also have hands-on activities in the Pilot Plant to take the theory we learned and put it to practice.
For more information about this 1 day training and how to register, please visit this web site: http://umaine.edu/food-health/food-safety/dairy-sanitation-workshop/.
Due to the hands-on activities, we have to limit the attendance to 30 people.
Please contact
–Beth Calder (581-2791 or beth.calder@maine.edu) if you have questions in regards to the workshop.
–Melissa Libby if you have registration questions at 1-800-287-7170 or Melissa.Libby1@maine.edu.
What Does Licensing Mean?
In Maine, being licensed by the Department of Agriculture to process dairy products — from fluid milk to cheese and butter and ice cream — means that a Dairy Inspector has toured a producers facility and approved their space, equipment, and process as meeting State and Federal regulations for the products that they wish to sell to the public.
In addition, among other services the Department of Agriculture provides to licensed dairy processors there are:
- one inspection annually by a dairy inspector where the dairy processor works with the inspector to address any concerns, as well as to solicit advice from the inspector about new processes or products;
- two water tests to insure that coliform (as an indication of possible bacterial contamination) is not found in the water supply used to produce product and wash equipment;
- ten (10) product tests are provided each year for samples picked up by the dairy inspector and processed by the Maine Dairy Lab in Augusta.
If sent to a commercial laboratory each of the water and/or product tests provided to the licensed dairy processor can cost between $30 and $50. Dairy consulting visits (the equivalent of a dairy inspection) can cost $500 to $1000 a day plus travel expenses.
Currently, in Maine, a dairy processing license will cost $25 at the lowest product volume level.
In practice, the dairy inspector is working for the licensed dairy processor, and if issues are detected during routine testing the dairy processor is not left alone to address them. The inspectors are committed to helping the dairy processor solve the problem(s) using any and all resources available in the public and private sector, to insure that Maine consumers will have the best quality dairy products available to them.
Guild Statement Related To Local Food Ordinances
The Maine Cheese Guild stands by it’s Quality Statement, issued in May 2009, with regard to the Local Food Ordinance proposals we have seen, and to the legislative bills introduced for the 2011 session (LD330 and LD366).
Our testimony against LD330, given to the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry at the March hearing on this bill follows:
Read the rest of this entry »
One Day HACCP Course in Maine
This course is geared towards those who are interested in creating a product that would be USDA or FDA inspected and thus need to be compliant with the written food safety guidelines those entities require (or will require in the case of the FDA). This one day course will cover how to analyze food safety risks and food safety hazards. Participants will learn about HACCP plans v. risk based plans and how to use the best of both to create a culture of food safety. The course costs $125 during pre-registration (up to 5 days before course date) and $145 at the door.
The course will take place on Wednesday April 24 from 9-5 at the Androscoggin Chamber of Commerce on 415 Lisbon St., in Lewiston. Registration and payment information is available at www.dirigoqualitymeats.com
Michele Pfannenstiel DVM
Dirigo Quality Meats
908-907-7798
michele@dirigoqualitymeats.com
www.dirigoqualitymeats.com
Value Added Adds Value (huh?)
Here’s just another example of how another “commodity” agricultural product can break out of the “commodity” prison with a little ingenuity and a lot of common sense.
It’s All Greek To The Customer?
More Greek Yogurt ado in the New York Times. It turns out there still may be people who haven’t heard about it, but not for long…
Dairy Sanitation Workshop May 16th
The Maine Cheese Guild will sponsor a Dairy Sanitation Workshop to be given by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Orono on May 16th. This year it will — for the first time — include a demonstration session of cleaning and sanitizing procedures using dairy production and processing equipment.
This is an all-day workshop, but will include a catered lunch.
May 16, 2013 – 8:00am-5:00pm
Nutting Hall, Room 204 – University of Maine, Orono campus
For directions and a campus map, please visit these web sites:
http://umaine.edu/about/driving-directions/
http://www.umaine.edu/locator/home-2/display-building/?id=261
Lunch is included and coffee and snacks in the morning.
Space is limited to the first 30 people.
Cost for Guild Members: $30.00
Non-Guild Members: $60.00
This workshop will cover an overview of sanitation topics such as bacterial pathogens related to dairy products, milking/milk room sanitation, as well as facility sanitation. Ronda Stone from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry will also talk about sanitation from an inspector’s perspective. Other special guests will include Sarah Spring, Spring Day Creamery who will discuss her own recent sanitation issues and how she overcame them. We will also have hands-on activities in the Pilot Plant to take the theory we learned and put it to practice.
An online registration web site link will be posted on the Maine Cheese Guild web site in the next few weeks.
A detailed agenda will soon follow. Thanks and if you have any questions, please contact Beth Calder at UMCE.
How Now Maine Cow?
The Maine Sunday Telegram (and associated newspapers) published a good overview of the present state of Maine’s 307 (currently) dairies this past Sunday. It is NOT a bright or positive story, but it is an honest look at a critical keystone of Maine agriculture and the federal and state programs that control much of what dairy farmers are (or are not) paid.
One fact left out of this excellent article is that Maine now asks the Oxford Casino to help fund its price support program. How sad that we depend on gambling revenue to keep fresh local milk in the grocery stores? We need to wake up and be willing to pay the TRUE price of our food, and stop hiding the true cost, which really hides the value of our hard working and dedicated Maine farmers. And if dairy farming doesn’t make economic sense, we should not be surprised that most young Mainers don’t want to go into that field…
Meeting: April 8 at Silvery Moon, Westbrook
Our April meeting was hosted by Silvery Moon Creamery at Smiling Hill Farm at 781 County Road (Route 22) in Westbrook on Monday, April 8th between 10am and 2pm.
We focused on Marketing issues at this meeting, and welcomed representatives from Native Maine Produce to the meeting to discuss what they look for in cheeses to distribute, how they handle those cheeses, and the various ways they’re able to market them to a wide or select set of customers.
