The current status of process analytical technologies in the dairy industry

The term Process Analytical Technology (PAT) is now popular in the chemical, food and pharmaceutical industries, collectively representing instruments, methods and strategies to provide a timely analysis of critical quality parameters to improve product quality and reduce cost. However in practice, the term PAT has narrowed down to predominantly focussing on just analytical instruments, and the associated mathematical processing losing the original holistic view. Consequently, due to the absence of an explicit focus on process control for real-time product release (RTR), PAT can lose sight of this overall aim. At the same time, traditional process control thinking alone can lose sight of key quality issues. This paper explores the potential of PAT in the dairy sector including appropriate instrumentation, analysis methods, the use of underlying models, and broad strategies to facilitate the real-time release of product. We also discuss why such a more holistic PAT approach is necessary to realise the full potential of the philosophy behind PAT which is consistent real-time product quality assurance.