Class XI students of the IT steam of St. Columba's School, New Delhi went for an Industrial Visit at Mother Dairy, Patparganj, New Delhi on 6th. February, 2020.
The purpose was to provide students an insight regarding internal working of Mother Dairy and opportunity to learn practically through interaction regarding the Milk collection, Transportation, Testing, Processing and manufacturing of other dairy products.
Mother Dairy is one of the largest liquid milk processing organizations in Asia. It started its operations in 1974 under the Operation Flood Program of the National Dairy Development Board. Currently situated in Patparganj New Delhi, Mother Dairy Sells more than 20lakh litres of milk per day, out of which about 10 lakh litres of milk is sold as bulk vended milk and another 20lakh litres of milk is sold in poly pack in five different variants.
The company officials welcomed the students, where Mr. R. K. R. Pillai, Manager, Consumer Information Centre gave a presentation in which he explained the processing capacity of the plant with the significance of the steps in processing, the procedure of procurement, testing and packaging of milk and the benefits of various categories of milk.
To make students aware and have better understanding of the processes the technical instructor started with the description of Procurement of milk. Where he explained how the milk is being collected through insulated road/rail tankers at very low temperature thus retaining the freshness of the milk. The milk Collecting containers are called as Silos.
After the collection of milk in the plant the milk is subjected to 23 stringent quality test which includes physiochemical and microbiological tests. The important processes included clarification using a clarifier which is used to remove the dust particles that are visible to the naked eye. After Clarification, the milk is subjected to Standardization which is done to make the uniform composition of the milk so as to deliver the milk to the consumer as per the prescribed norms. After this Homogenization of the milk is carried out with the help of Homogenizer, where milk is processed at a very high pressure during which the large fat globules present in milk are broken down into tiny droplets. Homogenization improves palatability of milk and is easily digestible. The next step of processing of milk is pasteurization where milk is heated at 72 degree Celsius. This process kills all the pathogenic bacteria in the milk.
The final stage is the Distribution of the milk, this is done after processing where milk is dispatched in hygienic & Sterilized milk tankers packed in food grade materials and transported under cold chain to our nearest milk shops.
Inference: The visit provided experiential learning to the students and helped them understand the process involved in the making of milk which is totally automated and is internationally designed keeping in mind the hygiene standards. After the students had an exposure of the various processes, milk and ice-creams were served to the students. Knowledge and fun were the ingredients of the day!
