Fabrication of spectroscopic microfluidic chips for mastitis detection in raw milk

Mastitis is a disease that directly affects the quantity and quality of milk produced by dairy cows, which can have a negative impact on the income generated from selling the milk. Severe inflammation caused by this mammary disease can result in up to 1 × 10⁶ white blood cells per milliliter of cow milk. Currently, the California mastitis test is a popular chemical inspection test, but its error rate of over 40% is a significant factor in the ongoing spread of mastitis. In this study, a new microfluidic device was designed and fabricated to identify normal, sub-clinical, and clinical mastitis. This portable device allows for precise and analysis of results within a second. The device was designed to screen somatic cells and a staining process was added to identify somatic cells using single-cell process analysis. The fluorescence principle was used to identify the infection status of the milk, which was analyzed using a mini-spectrometer. The accuracy of the device was tested, and it was found to determine the infection status with 95% accuracy, compared to the accuracy obtained using the Fossomatic machine. By introducing this new microfluidic device, it is believed that the spread of mastitis in dairy cows can be significantly reduced, leading to higher quality and more profitable milk production.