The AMA Quality Seal for milk and milk products

The AMA Quality Seal is used for milk more than it is for any other fresh product. Around 32,000 dairy farmers take part in the AMA Quality Seal programme. Here too, as with all other products, the AMA Quality Seal stands for excellent quality, traceable origins and independent monitoring

The entire production chain from raw milk to drinking milk and milk products is involved in the quality assurance. That is why there are rules for farmers as well as for milk processing establishments. All AMA dairy farmers have to pay attention to proper animal husbandry, high raw-milk quality through particularly careful hygiene in milk production and rapid cooling. Strict guidelines also apply to feeding.

For all products, the AMA Quality Seal guidelines stipulate quality standards which exceed the law. They insist on absolute zero tolerance regarding listeria and salmonella in the microbiological standards, for example. The chemical/physical requirements are also stricter than the legally defined criteria (for instance, in the spreadability of butter) when these are referred to.

Once the table is laid, milk and milk products with the AMA Quality Seal need to taste particularly good. In technical jargon this means that they need to conform to the premium-quality grade. This top quality needs to be guaranteed, even at the end of the best-before period. This is regularly checked during the sensory tests.