FMD in dairies: Centrifuging fact from fiction

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a devastating disease, but just as devastating and distracting are some of the misplaced facts shared on many a media platform.

- Susan Marais

During a recent webinar presented by the Dairy Standard Agency (DSA), veterinarian Dr Mark Chimes, also Milk SA's programme manager for animal health and welfare and member of the Ministerial Task Team (MTT) on FMD, attempted to set the record straight by sharing the facts regarding certain aspects of the FMD situation.

Pasteurisation and milk handling

Originally, all FMD milk had to be double pasteurised. However, single pasteurisation is currently allowed for milk intended for local consumption. This milk is acceptable for manufacturing dairy products, provided the products are not intended for the export market.

Pasteurisation involves heating milk to at least 72°C and then cooling it. In the case of double pasteurisation, the milk will be cooled to around 4°C before repeating the process. While double pasteurisation is still a requirement for export products, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) principle of 'equivalence' states that the strict application of the rules could be applied more flexibly under specific conditions.

Dr Chimes used condensed milk as an example — a dairy product made from milk that has been pasteurised once already. During processing is it again heated to over 100°C for more than five minutes. "This process is in fact more stringent than the standard double pasteurisation process," he explained. Hence, while double pasteurisation still applies to exports, the process is interpreted more pragmatically, the emphasis being on two effective heat treatments rather than strict cooling in between.

Vaccine supply and production