State Milk Testing Info:

SOMATIC CELL COUNT (SCC): Is mostly a count of the white blood cells and epithelial cells present in the milk. This indicates the general health condition of the udder and levels of mastitis infection, as well as the overall health of the cow and environmental pressures affecting the animal.

COLIFORM: Coliform count reflects the degree of contamination of milk by fecal
bacteria. Coliform bacteria can be dangerous or not dangerous. Human pathogenic E. coli O157:H7 is one of the dangerous coliform contaminants that raw milk could contain, however there are many non-pathogenic E. coli bacteria. There are other pathogens in raw milk such as Salmonella sp. and Campylobacter sp. to be considered as well as E. coli. Healthy gut bacteria, such as lactobacillus, are not measured in this test.

STANDARD PLATE COUNT (SPC/ml): Approved bacterial limit testing methods are used to quantitate the total number of colony forming units of bacteria in each milliliter of raw milk that will grow on the media it is plated on, at the incubation temperature used, and in the amount time it is given to grow. It is a test that is associated with cleanliness of the milking procedure, milk contact surfaces, milk temperature, and udder/animal health etc. The bacterial limit testing methods can detect bacteria that utilize lactose sugars and create lactic acids along with other bacteria. This test only counts bacteria that are present and grew at the test conditions. These bacteria may be good, beneficial or harmful. Slow cooling of raw milk provides greater opportunity for bacteria to multiply. Bacteria in milk can double every 20 minutes at room temperature in ideal conditions.

For more information, read our atricle on Temperature Control of Raw Milk.