Breaking Down our Lab Process

Tuesday, 3/26/2019

The lab at Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas is a bustling spot with any number of things happening at once. Throughout a typical day, donor milk goes through several processing steps in order to make it ready for dispensation to fragile infants. We’re here to break down the process for you:

 

1. Milk arrives at MMBNT frozen from approved donors, where it is logged into a database and stored in monitored freezers until processing.

2. Milk is carefully thawed in the lab.

3. Milk from several donors is analyzed and combined to optimize nutrition for fragile infants.

4. Milk is poured into bottles and secured with tamper-resistant lids.

5. Each bottle is labeled with a barcode that contains nutritional information, batch number and expiration date, and is compatible with hospital logging and tracking systems.

6. Milk is pasteurized using the Holder method, which gently eliminates potentially harmful bacteria while preserving immunological properties and nutritional composition.

7. After pasteurization, a lab culture is completed to ensure each processed batch is free from bacteria.

8. Bottles are quickly frozen and held at a consistent temperature until requested by a hospital or healthcare professional.

9. Frozen bottles are packed in insulated boxes with great attention to safety and temperature control.

10. Frozen bottles are transported by courier to local hospitals or shipped overnight on dry ice.

 

We are always happy to answer questions about milk banking. Give us a call at 817-810-0071!