Milk is packaged within days, usually within 24 hours, of arriving at a dairy plant. Packaged dairy products are also regularly tested by a certified laboratory for composition to ensure the product contains what it claims. This is also the final check point to ensure the product meets the standards established of bacteria, coliforms, yeasts, moulds and other potential contaminants. Dairy products at retail outlets are subject to random sampling as a further check of their safety, quality and composition. The majority of milk produced in BC is sold as fluid milk while the rest is manufactured into semi-fluid and solid products such as cheese, ice cream, yogurt and cottage cheese.
Dairy farms are close to being self-sustaining units.
Farmers grow two-thirds of the food a cow eats and recycle the cow's manure back to the fields where the feed is grown. Manure is very useful to farmers because it adds nutrients and organic matter which help to sustain and build the quality of the soil. Surviving a market that is increasingly competitive on a global scale.