Gates-backed lab invents milk container to cut spoilage

A new initiative backed by Bill Gates is targeting the dairy supply-chain in developing countries, aiming to reduce spoilage and improve milk quality for small-scale farmers.

The project, carried out in collaboration with Global Good and Intellectual Ventures Laboratory, has developed an improved milking and transportation system specifically designed for smallholder dairy producers. Traditional milk-collection containers (such as pails or repurposed jerry cans) are prone to contamination, breakage and accelerated spoilage.

For example, in Kenya more than one million small-scale farmers produce roughly 80 % of the country’s milk, yet face constraints in collection, storage and transport. The new container and system are meant to address the “breakdowns” in the dairy chain that prevent smallholders from accessing markets or achieving higher incomes.

Key Take-aways for the dairy sector:

• Innovation focused on value-chain bottlenecks (collection, transport, spoilage) rather than just production.

• When smallholders and their logistics improve, both quality and market access rise — a lesson relevant for India’s dairy ecosystem too.

• For labs, testing centres and processing plants (like yours), this demonstrates how supporting upstream logistics can markedly improve downstream outcomes (quality, yield, price, trust).

Source : Dairynews7x7 Nov 10th 2025 PYMNTS