Striving for optimal quality products delivered with service excellence by a passionate, focused workforce that uses cutting edge technology whilst ensuring sustained growth.

Producing Superior Quality Milk

Milk available for purchase by consumers varies in quality. Processing methods vary from dairy to dairy, as do quality controls and frequency of laboratory testing.

Douglasdale Dairy employs modern processing methods and all machinery is state-of-the-art. All dairy products produced in the factory undergo rigorous laboratory testing throughout the entire process to guarantee a quality end product every time.

 

Douglasdale Dairy hand picks farmers who supply fresh milk to the dairy. To be selected as a milk supplier to Douglasdale, the farmer must meet the stringent standards set-out by the dairy, which includes the type of fodder given to the cattle, which affects the nutrients in the milk. In addition, there are very specific requirements with regard to the milking process and equipment utilised.

 

The milk is tested from the time it is delivered to the dairy, through all the processing stages, up to and including final packaging. Douglasdale Dairy has its own laboratory. A full-time microbiologist conducts a number of tests daily to ensure that every milk product produced at Douglasdale Dairy is of the highest quality.

 

Douglasdale Dairy is one of the few dairies in South Africa that utilises a bactofuge in the production process.

 

The milk is pasteurised, homogenised, clarified and undergoes a bacterial removal process in a bactofuge. A bactofuge is a specially designed centrifuge that separates heat-resistant bacteria and other micro-organisms from milk. This process enhances the extended shelf-life of Douglasdale Dairy milk.

Douglasdale Dairy can, with confidence, provide consumers with the guarantee that when they purchase a Douglasdale Dairy product, they are buying a superior quality milk product, processed and packaged in a factory that complies with local and international food safety standards. 

Douglasdale Dairy has been awarded an 'A' rating in Pick 'n Pay's supplier audit assessment, conducted on their behalf by the Southern African Food Safety Inspection Services and is proud to be one of the first fresh milk dairies in Gauteng to achieve international Food Safety Standard, HACCP certification.

 

The HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) certification is recognised by the World Health Organisation as the most effective way of preventing food-borne disease. The HACCP Food Safety Management System is designed to identify and control hazards which have the potential to cause harm to the consumer, which might occur anywhere in the food processing system.

 

This system monitors the entire milk production process, from what lactating cattle are fed at the farm, to the temperature regulation of transportation of the final, packaged product from the dairy to the retailers' shelves. This makes Douglasdale Dairy fully accountable for each and every milk product that leaves the dairy, which is purchased by the consumer.

The HACCP certification not only identifies potential hazards but also stipulates what controls must be in place to prevent potential hazards. These controls are carefully managed at Douglasdale Dairy each step of the milk production process, to guarantee a quality product at all times.

 

All Douglasdale Dairy products are Kosher and Halaal.

Douglasdale Dairy is located in the heart of Sandton on the Douglasdale farm.

 

Scottish born, Thomas Douglas settles in South Africa in 1890 with his wife, Janet Alexander. They bought a farm on the Klein Jukskei River in Johannesburg and named it the Douglasdale farm. The farmhouse, one of the oldest homes in Sandton, was built in 1905.

 

In 1930 the family started producing milk as a hobby and in 1940 they began to retail their milk and produced 240 bottles of milk a day, by hand.

 

In the 1950's, Douglasdale milk was delivered by horse and cart and later by delivery men on bicycles.

 

Today the dairy produces 1.5% of the total country's daily milk production. Douglasdale Dairy services the greater Gauteng region and includes distribution as far a field as the North West Province and Mpumalanga. Douglasdale products include fresh milk available in 500ml, 1L and 2L size in Full Cream, Low Fat and Fat Free variants, Cream, Maas and Buttermilk.