Raw cow's milk and derivatives

Draft Production Specification for raw cow's milk and derivatives

The draft Production Specification for raw cow’s milk and derivatives applies to all stages of breeding, milking included, of lactating dairy cows for the production of raw milk to be used for the production of drinking milk, dairy products and ice creams. In it there is a comparison grid between the current provisions of the law and the provisions of the Specification itself.

The draft Specification provides indications on: choice and identification of animals, facilities and plants, breeding management types and techniques, feeding techniques, drug treatments, milking and milk storage, traceability and a self-checking system. It describes the requirements that raw milk must meet, which shows the characteristics of the branded product; finally, indications are given for the production of derivatives in relation to: milk transport, raw materials, traceability, self-checking, product labelling and a‘Control System’.

Furthermore, in compliance with the procedures for drafting the specifications of the Guidelines, the following areas of intervention and the specific principles observed in the draft Specification are indicated, from which the requirements that will give the product a quality significantly higher than the commercial standards in terms of public health and animal health and welfare are deduced, and that the products in question bearing the quality mark will have specific characteristics different from those of a comparable product without a mark.