Milk Banking Process

1

Potential donors go through a screening process

2

Donors drop off milk at a milk depot or the milk bank

3

Milk is then sorted and thawed

4

Milk is pooled with other donors

5

Milk is poured into BPA-free bottles and sealed

6

Milk is pasteurized using the Holder method at 62.5 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. The pasteurization process destroys pathogens while maintaining many of the nutritional and immunological properties that make breast milk so important. While pasteurization does reduce some of the immunological factors in breast milk, pasteurizing the milk does not affect oligosaccharides and approximately 70% of SlgA antibodies, 75% of lysosomes, and 40% of lactoferrin are preserved.

7

After pasteurization the milk is quickly cooled in an ice bath

8

The milk is then labeled and placed into a walk-in freezer

9

The milk is then sent to an outside lab to confirm that the batch is bacteria-free

10

Once the milk is verified as being bacteria free, the bottles can be packed in insulated boxes and sent out to hospitals or to babies in the community