OUR QUALITY PROMISE

Delivering on our promise to provide you with a safe and quality product for your baby is our top priority. Not all freeze-drying service providers use the same process - see below for more information on what differentiates our process.

OUR PROCESS

Sterile Handling:

Breast milk requires sterile handling in order to prevent contamination during processing. This includes before, during, and after its time in the freeze-dryer. We never touch your milk!
Even gloved hands can introduce contamination to freeze-dried breast milk - which is why we designed a process which allows us to freeze-dry each bag without ever touching your milk. Each bag of frozen milk you provide to Milkify is processed individually inside a specially-designed freeze-drying pouch. Our patent-pending freeze-drying pouches allow water vapor to escape while protecting your milk from contamination. We do not pool milk on trays for processing and each bag you send to Milkify becomes its own pouch of powder.
Your freeze-dried breast milk powder is then packaged using sterile technique inside an ISO5 cleanroom workstation.
All of Milkify's processing technicians are either trained research laboratory personnel or medical professionals who have years of experience in sterile handling techniques.

Individual bag tracking/processing:

Each bag of frozen milk received by Milkify is labeled with your name and a unique Bag ID and is tracked from start to finish while in our facility.
This means that even when your milk is in the freeze-dryer, it is labeled with your name. This is how we can guarantee that the milk you receive back is your own.
Your name, the expression date of your milk (if recorded on the lactation bag), and the original volume of milk (in fl. oz.) is recorded on a custom label of every pouch of breast milk powder you receive back. Our packaging has been tested to ensure it will protect the powder from oxygen, moisture, UV, and contamination during storage.

SAFETY

Food safety compliance: Our equipment is thoroughly washed and sanitized between each cycle. The Milkify facility is also routinely inspected to ensure compliance with all food-safety regulations - this includes cleaning and sanitizing procedures, facility design, recordkeeping, and process controls.

100% chemical-free and additive-free process: Absolutely nothing is added to your milk during the freeze-drying process.

cGMP Compliance: We adhere to all cGMP guidelines set forth by the FDA for food processors (Current Good Manufacturing Practice as defined by the FDA
Food Code, 21CFR117)

Breast milk handling safety:

We also follow all safe handling guidelines for breast milk put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA). This includes never thawing the milk at any point in the process and ensuring that all milk received is frozen and stored in a pre-sealed, pre-sterilized lactation bag.

QUALITY CONTROL CHECKS

Cold-chain transport: Your milk is kept frozen during transport to the Milkify facility via priority overnight shipping in specialized transport coolers. When your milk is received, it immediately undergoes a QC check to ensure safe temperatures were maintained during transport, and that no bags have been damaged.

Water content testing: As part of our final quality control checks, we measure the exact water activity (“dryness”) of the breast milk powder using a laboratory-grade water activity meter. This final QC check ensures that the freeze-drying process removed water from the milk efficiently. This is how we know that your breast milk powder will remain shelf stable for up to 3 years with no refrigeration when stored properly in a cool, dry place. By doing this test, we avoid the necessity of adding a moisture absorbing packet (silica gel or similar) to your bags, and ensure the expiration date printed on your bag label is accurate. We worked with shelf life experts to design this protocol, and testing like this is the only sure way to make any claims regarding the shelf-life of freeze-dried breast milk.

OUR PEOPLE

Highly trained personnel: Only highly trained personnel with active food safety certifications process the milk and follow strict protocols regulating personnel hygiene, personal protective gear, and equipment sanitization to ensure that your milk is handled safely from start to finish.

Sterile handling: Your milk is handled with extreme care at all times in the Milkify facility. After freeze-drying, your milk is packaged into the high barrier bags in a sterile, cleanroom workstation that is fed with HEPA-filtered air and sanitized by UV light between orders.

SCIENCE

Scientifically backed and tested: The processing protocol used by Milkify was designed by Dr. Berkley Luck, an expert in the field. The process is based on decades of scientific research and was extensively tested for over a year.

Approved by experts: Milkify's process has been reviewed by Food Safety experts, Medical Doctors, our Scientific Advisory Board, Registered Dieticians, and Certified Lactation Consultants. Freeze-drying is also used by human milk donor banks worldwide, who have shown freeze-drying to be a safe and effective way to preserve breast milk.