The dairy line, station by station.

A dairy line takes raw milk from reception to chilled or frozen packs, and every station must protect food safety while keeping product quality consistent. After reception, raw milk is cooled, stored and usually clarified and standardised to the fat content required. It then enters the pasteuriser, the key safety station. In a continuous plate pasteuriser the milk is warmed by outgoing hot milk in a regeneration section, heated to the pasteurisation temperature, held for the required time and cooled. A flow diversion valve sends back any milk that has not reached temperature, and the temperature record forms part of the plant's legal documentation. The homogeniser usually sits inside the pasteuriser's circuit, working on warm milk after regeneration. It forces milk through a narrow valve at high pressure to break fat globules into smaller droplets so cream does not rise. The same equipment stabilises cream, yoghurt bases, ice cream mix and dairy desserts. Filling comes next. Milk and drinks go into bottles or cartons, yoghurts and desserts into cups, and cream into tubs, using fillers matched to the product's viscosity and the hygiene level needed: clean, ultra-clean or aseptic for shelf-stable products. Fill accuracy and hygiene are the main concerns. Filled packs pass a checkweigher, which confirms every pack is within weight limits and gives feedback to the filler. Cartoning machines then group cups or bottles into multipacks and cartons, and case packers load retail packs into cases or crates for distribution, often as shelf-ready trays. For ice cream, frozen desserts and butter destined for frozen storage, the line ends with blast freezing or hardening. Ice cream leaves the freezer partly frozen and must be hardened quickly so large ice crystals do not form. Blast freezers or hardening tunnels bring packs down to storage temperature before they enter the cold store. Throughout, cleaning-in-place, temperature control and traceability connect the stations, because a failure anywhere can affect product safety across the whole line.