R&D, at your service

Dairy Foods, Dec, 1998 by Donna Gorski Berry

Consistent quality program

"Probably the only thing that R&D does shortly after Dean acquires a dairy is to standardize the dairy's QA and QC program to match corporate R&D's protocol," Muck says. "We have 30-plus years experience in QC record keeping and believe our system works well."

For example, all of the dairies must run E. coli tests on fresh products. In addition, standard six-day/45 [degrees] F shelflife tests are conducted on all finished products.

As distribution territories grow for the dairies, the demand for better microbial quality and longer shelflives increases, providing Dean with one of its greatest technical challenges as it enters a new era of dairy marketing and product development. And in the company's eyes, it's Dean's era.