NFOK17000U Dairy Internship

Introduction period no. 1:

The theoretical part will integrate current literature with exercises relating to theory and case studies. It will consist of lectures, theoretical exercises and discussions. Teaching within basic dairy chemistry and dairy microbiology will be given by lecturers from University of Copenhagen, partly as web-based teaching with on-line assignments and tests complementing the other parts of the course. In addition, external lecturers from the dairy industry will participate and a number of dairy plant visits will be arranged.

The practical part of the course will take place in the dairy pilot plant at Kold College equipped for manufacture of common dairy products, i.e. with access to standard unit operations and with specialized equipment for dairy processing. In addition, some teaching will take place in laboratories with instrumentation for analysis of milk and dairy product constituents and quality. The practical part will have the following content:

• Hands-on experience with the common unit operations used in the dairy industry (heat treatment, separation, membrane filtration, homogenization).
• Hands-on processing of common dairy products: Fluid milks, fermented milk, milk powder, cheese, ice cream and butter
• Practical experience with common analytical methods used in the dairy industry, e.g. milk constituents, microbial quality (total plate count, cells, coliforms etc.), spectroscopic methods (MilkoScan® or similar) and evaluation of product quality (sensory, texture analysis etc.)
• Practical experience with process control, e.g. by use of process simulation.

Internship periods (8 + 5 weeks):

Students will have to complete internships at two different plants. The first internship will be 8 weeks and the second internship will be approx. 5 weeks, due to constraints around Christmas and New Year.

The following rules apply to the choice of internship sites:

• All internships must be approved by Mejeripraktikudvalget (Dairy Internship Committee)  [1].
• One stay must be at a dairy plant, i.e. a plant processing cheese, fluid milks, fermented milks, milk powder (including dairy ingredients and/or infant nutrition products), ice cream or butter and dairy spreads.
• One stay can be with an ingredient processor, process equipment supplier or at other relevant product manufacturing sites.
• One internship should be at a cheese manufacturing site
• One of the internships can be outside Denmark.
• Mejeripraktikudvalget can grant exemptions from the above subject to specific application and/or availability of acceptable internship sites.

Students should participate in the daily routines at the plant and should be introduced to as many individual processing and logistical steps as possible from raw material handling to final packaging. In addition, students must be introduced to the various services necessary for dairy processing, e.g. procurement of energy, cooling and handling of waste. Students could be assigned to participate in specific projects/problem solving at the plant.

Students have to hand in a report (max. 15 pages) following each internship.   

Introduction period no. 2 (2 weeks between the internship periods):

Students will complete a dairy technology related project and the final exam will be conducted. 

[1] Mejeripraktikudvalget (The Dairy Internship Committee) is constituted as follows: One representative from University of Copenhagen, two representatives from Kold College, two representatives from Dansk Mejeriingeniørforening (the Union for Danish MSc graduates with a specialization in Dairy Science and Technology), one representative from the dairy plants, one representative from the students and one representative from Mejeribrugets Arbejdsgiverforening (the Danish Dairy Employers´ Association). The committee grants approval of internships subject to an evaluation of whether students can be expected to obtain sufficient and relevant practical knowledge from a specific dairy plant.