A new optical sensor that can check the presence of contaminants in milk and produce a detailed reading in five minutes is set to dramatically reduce costs, wastage and antibiotic use linked to the production, quality control and processing phases in the dairy industry.
The sensor can look for any antibiotics ingested by the cows that have been transmitted to the milk. Using the collected information, companies can prevent contaminants, such as antibiotics and aflatoxin, from entering the food chain.
Today, standard tests take days to perform, whereas this new palm-sized sensor will be the easiest way to check the presence of milk components (such as kappa-casein proteins) that are quality 
parameters for milk and other dairy products.
The same readout can help prevent food poisoning outbreaks like Staphylococcal enterotoxins while at the same time predicting milk quality (Kappa Casein) and cow health (lactoferrin).
"With this sensor system", said project coordinator Stefano Toffanin, researcher at the Italian National Research Council in Bologna, "farmers will be given the insight to understand the health of their cows, dairies will be able to make instant judgments about the contaminants in milk and processors can keep an eye on quality control."
"Our sensor is a multi-parameter tool, based on innovative nano-photonic technologies. It is designed for detecting milk contaminants, and provides an inexpensive, early warning system. This will help the entire dairy industry to save time, millions of Euros and gallons of wastage," said Toffanin.
On-Site Detection
Typically, a number of checks are required at nearly every stage of the production process to avoid any possible contamination of dairy products delivered to consumers, with samples often needing to be taken and sent away to a laboratory.
However with the new sensor system, milk samples can be analyzed by both technicians at the dairy plant level and farm-based users who are not experts, within a five-minute period.
Used as an offline, hand-held tool by non-specialists and technicians alike, the miniaturized sensor system can be integrated into a milking machine for inline detection.
Milk processors check food-safety parameters upon delivery. When a batch is found to be contaminated, the processors must reject and destroy the product leading to serious financial losses for farmers.
High-Value Milk
Depending on the company and country, dairy processors will usually pay more for higher-fat and high-protein milk.
Kappa Casein B type is a milk protein that is extremely important in cheese making, for its ability to clot and form curds. A cow with a Kappa Casein B type produces milk that clots quickly, as well as cheese that is much firmer than that made from a cow with different genotypes.
Farmers can use this new optical sensor system to assist in breeding programs to deliver more valuable milk by identifying cows that produce high-value Kappa Casein B type proteins.
Food safety parameters included in the analysis are antibiotics and mycotoxins as well as food quality parameters like kappa casein and lactoferrin.
Surface Plasmon Resonance
The system works by exploiting highly miniaturized organic optoelectronic devices with a grating supporting surface plasmon resonances (SPR).
SPR are waves of free electrons at the surface of a metal. They are extremely sensitive to binding events occurring on the surface and can be excited and detected by a light beam impinging on the surface. Then, a change in the reflected intensity carries out information on the in situ interaction of specific, pre-programmed receptors with selected bacteria, toxins, antibiotics and, in general, with contaminants.
Going by the acronym MOLOKO, the consortium developing the sensor system expects to have a prototype ready in three years. MOLOKO is a Photonics Public Private Partnership project that secured €6 million of EC funding via the Horizon 2020 work program.
