QUALITY & SAFETY FOR HUMAN MILK-BASED NUTRITION

We are proud to say our quality is unsurpassed.  We standardize our human milk products so that each package is consistent in nutrient composition in each package. Major and minor nutrients, amino acids and many immune factors are retained. [Data available upon request]

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All our products are homogenized to reduce the size of fat globules making them more evenly distributed throughout the milk.  We are the only milk bank to offer homogenized donor milk.  This is especially important for babies who are very low birth weight [VLBW].  Research shows that homogenization improves the absorption of human milk fat. Read Article

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There has been a lot of discussion about processing methods and the safety of Retort pasteurization.  When we developed our product we wanted to make sure it met the highest levels of food safety. That’s why we chose to use commercial sterilization - an industry standard, with a long track record of safety - instead of Holder pasteurization, an out of date method no longer used by the dairy industry. Retort sterilization eliminates heat-stable toxins and spores that are not completely eradicated by Holder pasteurization and offers a dramatically improved risk profile.

Raw milk is frequently contaminated with potentially pathogenic organisms and many cannot be destroyed using Holder pasteurization. Unfortunately, many milk banks do not test raw milk prior to processing, citing cost and waste as the reasons and resulting in an unknown risk profile for these toxins.  We are particularly concerned by studies stating Bacillus cereus remained in as many as 25% of processed milk samples after Holder pasteurization.  These spores can present a potent risk to infants, especially preterm infants.  Other organisms such as S. aureus produce heat stable toxins when colony counts exceed certain levels.  Read Article

Nutrient content can be variable, making promotion of adequate growth challenging. Poor growth rates in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants can have neurodevelopmental implications. Read Article