March 17, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                       

Contact: Eric Schweitzer

Director, Standards & Certification

erics@3-a.org

3-A SSI Releases New Sanitary Standard for Automated Milking Installations, Number 102-00

McLEAN, Virginia – 3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc. announces the publication of the first 3-A Sanitary Standard for Unitized Equipment for Automated Milking Installations, Number 102-00.  The new standard has an effective date of March 12, 2020.

The new standard defines an Automated Milking Installation or AMI as the entire installation of one (1) or more automatic milking units, including the hardware and

software utilized in the operation of individual automatic milking units, the automatic milking machine, the system for cleaning and sanitizing the automatic milking

unit, the teat cleaning system, and the alarm systems associated with the process of milking, cleaning     and sanitation.

This 3-A Sanitary Standard applies to the sanitary aspects of the unitized equipment for an AMI inclusive of the equipment applied to a hooved mammal to extract milk and continues to all components as used in the installation exclusive of the container or tank or vessel in which the milk is cooled and stored and from which the milk is removed from the dairy farm.  The unitized equipment begins with the teat preparation and ends at the highest point between the sanitary trap and the receiver, and milk outlet of the valve assembly used to separate the milking system lines for normal milk, abnormal milk, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions from the downstream milk line(s).

Development of the new standard began in 2015 with collaboration among the many volunteer regulatory sanitarians, processors and fabricators in 3-A SSI to define the important baseline sanitary design criteria for AMI equipment.  The new standard follows the structure of other new 3-A SSI standards with the baseline or “A Level,” 3-A Sanitary Standard for General Requirements, ANSI/3-A 00-01-2018 as a normative reference.  A copy of 102-00 and other 3-A SSI documents are available at the 3-A SSI eStore at www.3-a.org under ‘Standards & Accepted Practices Store’.

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3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc. is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to enhance product safety for consumers of food, beverages, and pharmaceutical products through the development and use of 3-A Sanitary Standards and 3-A Accepted Practices.  Visit the 3-A SSI web site at www.3-a.org.