Milk transport security project demos prototype to international audience; receives additional $1.2 million for future

Date:  October 9, 2008

For more than two years, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture researchers have been heading up a project aimed at improving food safety and defense measures associated with bulk milk transport. As an added bonus, their efforts are streamlining the information gathering process associated with farm milk pickups and deliveries. On Oct. 9, researchers demonstrated the Milk Transport and Traceability Security System in Lexington to show the prototype’s potential to meet the needs of dairy processors, milk marketing agencies and milk transportation companies. U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers was on hand to celebrate the project’s success and talk about its importance. “As we’ve all seen recently overseas, the security of our milk supply is vital to ensuring the health and safety of our citizens,” Rogers stated. “Solutions are needed to shore up the food supply chain from natural or man-made disasters, and providing calculated technology investments are critical to solving the challenges we face in defending America from the next attack. Through the fine leadership of the National Institute For Hometown Security, as well as our valued university and private-sector partners, the Milk Transport Security System is blazing new trails in this arena. This collaborative project will lead to enhanced security and safety for all our citizens, and I am proud to have provided the funding which makes this research possible.” UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. spoke to the crowd about Kentucky’s and UK’s national leadership in the project. “I have often spoken about the need for Kentucky to establish itself as a national leader in areas where we can use our natural expertise to develop solutions to complex problems,” he said. “This milk safety project, funded through our National Institute For Hometown Security, is a perfect example of how we are leveraging the skills, talent and ingenuity of Kentucky’s colleges and universities to develop a real-life solution to a pressing national concern.”

In the above photo, a milk tanker truck equipped with the Milk Security System

The Challenge

The task of assuring the security of our homeland involves protecting the citizens of the United States, the nation's critical infrastructure and key assets. This is necessary to sustain the nation's vitality against terrorism and other threats. This protection must originate at the community level. It requires discovering, developing and deploying new technology that will support first responders and key decision makers in local communities.

The Mission

NIHS' mission is to discover, develop and deploy solutions that protect and preserve the critical infrastructure of the nation's communities.

The Institute

NIHS aligns projects and research objectives with the needs and requirements of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The strategy is to manage a distributed research enterprise that effectively transitions research and development into solutions. NIHS works with DHS to determine technology needs at the community level. Then, teams are quickly assembled from multiple universities to develop solutions to the needs.

The Strategy

Through management of the Kentucky Critical Infrastructure Protections Program (KCI), the National Institute for Hometown Security (NIHS) provides an ongoing, integrated program dedicated to developing new technologies and devices. NIHS works through qualified academic institutions to accomplish the technological objectives.