How It Works

From shipping to delivery, our streamlined process is designed to protect your milk and minimize hassle.

Milk is received and undergoes initial QC check. Every bag is labeled with customer name and a unique ID number for tracking.

Each bag of milk is weighed and logged. Expression date and any other notes written on the bag are recorded for transfer to the final custom label.

Frozen milk is transferred to our SafeDry lyophilization pouches – these protect your milk from contamination while allowing the water vapor to escape. Each pouch remains separate during freeze-drying and ensures your milk is labeled even while in the freeze-dryer.

Your freeze-dried breast milk powder is then packaged using sterile technique inside an ISO5 cleanroom workstation. Each bag you send to Milkify becomes its own pouch of powder.

As part of our final QC check, we measure the water activity (“dryness”) of your breast milk powder to ensure that it will remain shelf stable for up to 3 years. After this, your freeze-dried breast milk is ready for shipment.

HOW IT WORKS

Shipping to Milkify

Take the anxiety out of shipping your milk with our easy-to-use shipping kits. We will send you everything you need to ship your milk safely and securely, including a pre-paid shipping label. All of our services come with hassle-free shipping and include our safe-arrival guarantee.

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HOW IT WORKS

How to Use Your Breast Milk Powder

Freeze-dried breast milk is not sterile. Breast milk powder should be stored and prepared properly in order to prevent contamination with Cronobacter and other bacteria that can cause serious illness if safe handling guidelines are not followed.

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How the Freeze-Drying Process Works

Milkify uses a process called freeze-drying to transform frozen breast milk into powder.

Our freeze-drying process works by a simple principle called sublimation, in which the water is removed from frozen breast milk by transitioning directly from a solid (ice) to a gas (water vapor). This process is explained in more detail below, but simply put - it preserves the structure of molecules in the milk, which impacts the taste and nutritional quality of the milk. The result after freeze-drying is a fine breast milk powder, which has all of the components of the breast milk without the water. This process is very different than standard "dehydrating" techniques, which use high temperatures to remove water, thereby damaging the nutritional properties of the milk.

Steps for Freeze-Drying Breast Milk

Ultra-Low Freeze

Your frozen breast milk is placed inside a chamber that is cooled to a very low temperature (-40° C).

Deep Vacuum

The air in the chamber is removed via pump, bringing the environment in the chamber to a deep vacuum.

Sublimation

The ice crystals (solid) in the milk turn into water vapor (gas). In the vacuum chamber, the water vapor molecules are pulled out of the milk, leaving behind all of the other components of the milk as powder.

Package & Seal

The freeze-dried breast milk powder is sealed in high-barrier mylar bags to protect it from moisture, oxygen, UV, and other contamination. Stored like this, breast milk powder is shelf-stable with no refrigeration for 3 years and further nutrient degradation is prevented.

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How It Works

Shipping to Milkify

How to Use Your Breast Milk Powder

How the Freeze-Drying Process Works

Steps for Freeze-Drying Breast Milk