The dairy sector contributes significantly to the resilience and economic viability of farmers and rural communities. Most of the milk produced across the world comes from either independent, family-owned farms or smallholder farms and cooperatives, rather than from large, corporate farming operations. For instance, the 45 million cows in India are owned mostly by families or smallholders, and the 5 million cows in New Zealand are mostly owned by family-operated dairy farms.¹ At the same time, a dairy animal is a key asset in the households of rural areas. More than one in four farm holdings worldwide keep at least one milk animal,² mainly cows but also goats, camels, sheep, and other milk-producing animals.

Dairy is a core nutritious food staple that can significantly contribute to the health and nutrition of societies around the world, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), milk is a major source of dietary energy, high-quality protein, and fat. It can make a significant contribution to meeting the required nutrient intakes of calcium, magnesium, selenium, riboflavin, vitamin B12, and pantothenic acid. Milk from some animal species can also be a source of zinc and vitamins A, C, D, and B6. Bioavailability of some nutrients in milk, for example calcium, is high compared with that of other foods in the diet.³

Therefore, the development of dairy markets around the world, especially in low- and middle-income countries, is vital. Besides providing healthy and nutritious sustenance, it can also play an important role in trade and economic development. Access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious dairy can enable trade within countries as well as with regional and global partners, enabling the potential for increasing the income of rural households. Altogether, this contributes to improving public health and reducing poverty, so long as the dairy is safe to consume. Significant growth and advancement in these countries can be accelerated when operators across the dairy chain meet international standards for food safety.

Capability Building for Smallholder Dairy Farms

To help achieve these goals, SSAFE recognized the need to support the advancement of good food safety practices in dairy production and developed an open-source food safety training framework to support the development of dairy farming in low- and middle-income countries. It sets out the knowledge and skills needed to help smallholders produce higher quantities of good-quality, raw dairy, which in turn helps increase the income of their households.

Built on the Global Food Safety Initiative's (GFSI) Global Markets Program model, this dairy farming capability development framework is divided into two levels. First, it provides a set of basic-level requirements for smallholders that include non-negotiable food safety requirements (i.e., the absolute minimum that can and should be expected from any dairy farmer); and second, a set of intermediate-level requirements are oriented toward medium-scale dairy farms. This helps create a step-wise approach to improved food safety practices in dairy farming, aids dairy farmers in applying FAO/International Dairy Federation (IDF) Good Dairy Farming Practices,⁴ and enables international organizations and the private sector to design dairy training programs based on local needs and conditions.

Furthermore, to avoid duplication of effort, the requirements are based on and aligned with a number of other existing standards, including, but not limited to, Codex Recommended International Code of Practice—General Principles of Food Hygiene (CAC/RCP 1-1969, Rev. 4, 2003), Codex Code of Hygienic Practice for Milk and Milk Products (CAC/RCP 57-2004), FAO/IDF Guide to Good Dairy Farming Practices (2011), ISO 22000:2005 (food safety management systems—requirements for any organization in the food chain), and ISO/TS 22002-3 (prerequisite programs on food safety—Part 3: Farming).

The framework⁵ covers all activities that dairy farmers regularly carry out that may influence the safety of dairy products made available on the market and eventually consumed as food. This includes all relevant production steps, from the on-farm production of feed intended for dairy cows to the delivery of farm products to immediate customers, including milk and live animals for meat.

The framework's basic requirements cover the following key (non-negotiable) categories:

1. Location, design, and layout of premises and buildings
2. Equipment
3. Personnel
4. Animal health and welfare
5. Water
6. Propagation materials
7. Fertilization
8. Plant protection
9. Crop harvesting
10. On-farm feed production
11. Watering and feeding
12. Milking
13. On-farm storage and transport
14. Animal control
15. Cleaning and disinfection
16. External communication
17. Corrections and corrective actions
18. Control of measuring and monitoring devices
19. Traceability.

This may seem like a lot of requirements, but most farmers around the world already undertake some (if not most) of these activities. Having trialed and piloted the work in Indonesia and Mexico, we found that many of the requirements were already being met on an intuitive level, but not necessarily in a consistent, repeatable, and documented manner.

Based on the pilots and further implementation by other farmers, we identified some key benefits during the trial phase of the framework including:

• Improved quality and safety of dairy production on the farms
• Reduction in rejection of raw milk and fewer total plate counts (TPC)
• Access to new markets (both local and regional)
• A tiered approach that enabled farmers to learn at a reasonable pace and continuously improve over time.

Framework Key Objectives and Future Goals

The key objectives of the SSAFE Global Dairy Farming Food Safety Training Framework are to facilitate local market access, create mutual acceptance along the supply chain, and provide a framework for mentoring dairy farmers. Although it is expected that individuals will be trained, the requirements, knowledge, and skills are applicable to entire farms rather than individual personnel.

While the framework has been developed using a tiered model to enable dairy farmers to improve over time, there is no specified timeframe for farmers to move from the basic to intermediate level, and there is no specific intention for the tiered model to be used as a continuous approach toward certification. While certification against a GFSI-recognized scheme may be desirable and of relevance to some dairy farms—particularly some large-scale dairy farms and cooperatives—less developed businesses may prefer to use the basic or intermediate levels only and never reach full certification.

Of course, the work to keep raw milk safe does not stop the moment it leaves the farm. Whether it goes straight to a food producer that processes it into products such as liquid milk for drinking, cheese, flavorings, or even further processing as an ingredient for other foods, the responsibility for food safety does not end just because milk leaves the farm. Having identified the lack of a specific capability development program for collection centers, SSAFE is currently developing a second part to the framework to cover activities at dairy collection centers.

Still under development, this additional part of the framework will include requirements for collection centers such as:

1. Hygiene, cleaning, and sanitation
2. Pasteurization process
3. Temperature maintenance and control
4. Traceability
5. Appropriate use of a lactoperoxidase (LP) system
6. Transport from farm-to-center and center-to-manufacturer (hygiene and cold chain management).

The program will focus on the prerequisite programs and HACCP controls at simple collection centers (not those that pasteurize) falling under the following descriptions:

• Those that store and distribute milk
• Those that use the LP system, which is the most common form of collection center (especially in developing countries), and where the need for capability building is greatest
• Chilling centers that chill and cool milk, and that may include a collection system involving the transport of milk from farms to the center.

By adding a section for collection centers, the SSAFE Global Dairy Framework becomes more complete, more functional, and further strengthens food safety across the dairy supply chain. We expect that, once rolled out, the overall food safety practices in collection centers will be improved, and the level of food safety risk for food manufacturers that source dairy from collection centers will be reduced. SSAFE will likely pilot this program before the end of 2024 in Brazil and launch it officially in the spring of 2025.

Takeaway

Given the importance of diary for both human health and nutrition, as well as for socioeconomic development, as an industry we must continue to work together to aid and support dairy farmers around the world—especially in low- and middle-income countries—to produce high-quality, safe, dairy-based products. Science-based programs that are developed with input from leading dairy experts, producers, buyers, academia, trade associations, intergovernmental institutions, NGOs, and others are important to help accelerate the development of dairy markets, especially informal ones. The benefits to economic development and human health and wellbeing are vast, while helping food businesses and society at large become more sustainable.

References

1. Hill, J.P. "Assessing the overall impact of the dairy sector." Achieving Sustainable Production of Milk, Volume 2: Safety, Quality and Sustainability. Van Belzen, N., Ed. Cambridge, UK: Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing Ltd. (March 2017): http://dx.doi.org/10.19103/AS.2016.0005.43.
2. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). "The Global Dairy Sector: Facts." October 2016. https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/beee9189-d92d-4a0d-86af-a1e3328c33d1/content.
3. FAO. "Milk and Dairy Products in Human Nutrition Questions and Answers." https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/newsroom/docs/Milk%20and%20Dairy%20Q&A.pdf.
4. FAO and International Dairy Federation (IDF). "Guide to Good Dairy Farming Practice." Rome 2011. https://www.fao.org/4/ba0027e/ba0027e00.htm.
5. SSAFE. "SSAFE Global Dairy Farming Food Safety Training Framework." https://www.ssafe-food.org/capacity-building/ssafe-global-dairy-farming-food-safety-training-framework.

Quincy Lissaur is Executive Director of SSAFE, a global nonprofit membership organization with the purpose of strengthening the safe supply and trade of food around the world.