The 17th edition of this landmark book is designed for regulatory, industry, and commercial laboratories that need to assess the safety and quality of dairy products. It is also a compendium of microbiological, chemical, and physical methods for analyzing milk and dairy products. The focus is on tests for hidden attributes that can only be detected by laboratory procedures. These include test methods and procedures that may be applied routinely for the laboratory evaluation of products and complex non-routine methods, such as those for food-borne pathogens and vitamin content analysis.

This edition provides the dairy industry, associated research organizations, and the governmental bodies charged with ensuring the safety and wholesomeness of dairy products with validated methodology to ensure that harmful levels of organisms and other substances are absent and that the nutritive qualities, flavor, and appearance of products meet established specifications. One of its aims is to provide a system for the uniform testing of dairy products that will become a critical component of both government and industry analytical programs. The presentation of methods in SMEDP is designed to foster uniformity by providing sufficient information on key test procedures so that analysts have a clear set of procedures when performing each method.

In addition to the routine updating of methodology, comprehensive revisions have been made to chapters on antibiotic drug residues and chemical and physical methods. Rapid changes in antibiotic residue testing methodology have replaced methods in earlier editions.