Lab Processing Steps & 360° Video Tour
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1. Milk arrives frozen from approved donors where it is logged into a system database and stored in monitored freezers until processing.
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2. Milk is carefully thawed and thoroughly mixed.
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3. Milk from several donors is combined and analyzed to optimize nutrition for fragile infants.
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4. Milk is poured into BPA-free bottles and secured with tamper-resistant lids.
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5. Each bottle is labeled with a barcode that contains nutritional information, batch number and expiration date, and is compatible with hospital logging and tracking systems.
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6. Milk is pasteurized using the Holder method of gently heating bottles to 62.5 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. Pasteurization eliminates pathogens while preserving immunological properties and nutritional composition.
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7. After pasteurization, a third-party lab culture is completed to ensure each processed batch is bacteria free.
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8. Bottles are quickly cooled on ice. They are placed in a monitored walk-in freezer and held at a consistent temperature until requested by a hospital or healthcare professional.
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9. Frozen bottles are packed in insulated boxes with great attention to safety and temperature control.
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10. Frozen bottles are transported by the milk bank's van or courier to local hospitals or shipped overnight on dry ice.
See our lab in action. Take the 360° tour below.
Watch the video on your phone:
- Press play below.
- Wait for each dotted white line to appear to guide you around the lab in a 360-degree circle.
Watch the video on your computer:
- Press play below.
- Wait for each dotted white line to appear to guide you using your cursor or touch screen.
