Date:  November 5, 2009

A wireless computerized system to protect milk from cow to consumer was tested in October at New York State, nearly four years after University of Kentucky Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Professor Fred Payne and colleague Chris Thompson began its development with a U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant funded through the National Institute for Hometown Security.

Payne and his research team traveled to Mohawk, N.Y., where drivers with Richard Obreza Trucking Inc. were trained on the system. After a week of training, the drivers began a month long test of the system.
 
The New York tests monitored milk-data collection automation at dairy farms that are part of the milk marketing agencies Agri-Mark, Inc. and Dairy Marketing Services Eastern Region.
 
Payne and his team received very positive feedback about the Milk Transport System. The results of the testing was very promising, exactly what Payne was hoping for.  Some of the feedback was:

• The system brings together a lot of reporting. 
• The system captures a lot of information that drivers struggle with from a hand written form. 
• The traceability of the system is an advantage.
• The security and food safety are improved.

Dr. Payne received $1.5 million in January 2006 after proposing the system. Food safety became a major issue in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because of concerns about deliberate contamination of food stocks.
 
That first grant supported the development of a functioning prototype system. In August 2008, Payne and his team received a second grant for $1.3 million to advance the prototype into a marketplace-ready system.
 
The system uses a handheld computer that receives data on milk weight, milk temperature, pick-up time and other information. The handheld computer then relays that information to a data server and makes it available over the Internet.    

The photo below shows the Milk Truck Transport Security System