Irish dairy technology firm Oculer has developed microbiology testing which could save the Irish dairy sector up to €200m annually in reduced farmer penalties, superior product shelf-life, and enhanced protein concentration.
A Technopath Group spin-off, Oculer’s innovative system will cut detection of milk-spoiling bacteria from the current global standard of 72 hours to 24 hours, with an alarm to signal potential risk of bacteria triggered in as little as six hours. Oculer say this is the biggest breakthrough globally for dairy bacteria testing in the past 100 years.
Thermoduric bacteria are naturally occurring bacteria that survive pasteurisation, and are responsible for downstream spoilage of finished dairy products, for reduced shelf-life and reduced protein concentrations.