A lifesaving milk bank is coming to Georgia.
Help us build it.
Med Milk is a Georgia nonprofit building our state's first donor human milk bank, so that medically fragile babies in Georgia have secure access to pasteurized donor human milk.
Right now, Georgia's most fragile babies rely on milk shipped in.
Each year, thousands of Georgia babies are born prematurely. Many of these medically fragile babies will need pasteurized donor human milk to protect them from serious complications, such as necrotizing enterocolitis. Currently, that milk is purchased from out-of-state milk banks. Often, hospitals may need to purchase from multiple milk banks to meet the needs of babies in their care.
Even the milk Georgians donate leaves the state.
Georgia families who want to donate milk must do so through local depots that supply out-of-state banks. Their milk is then shipped to milk banks across the country to be pasteurized before it is shipped out to hospitals.
Georgia is the only southeastern state without a milk bank.
Building a milk bank will require a large investment. A variety of expertise is needed in the areas of food safety and food manufacturing, business acumen, medical knowledge and more. A specialized facility must be designed and built or adapted to accommodate a large-scale operation to meet the needs of Georgia's fragile newborns including laboratory, cold storage, shipping, processing, and donor screening.
Funding from the state is allowing us to develop a business plan and engage development experts to assist with fundraising.
We need to raise at least a million dollars to establish the milk bank, which would then be self-sustaining as a nonprofit business providing safe, high-quality donor milk.
A real institution, built to Georgia's standard of care.
Med Milk is a multidisciplinary group of Georgians working to establish the state's first donor human milk bank. We are a Georgia nonprofit, governed by a board, and partnering with organizations across the state to bring safe donor milk home.
We are in active pursuit of accreditation from the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, and we are building toward operation with a forming, statewide depot network. This is a cause Georgians can join.
Georgia 501(c)(3)
A registered nonprofit, board governed, working in the public interest.
Multidisciplinary team
Clinicians, community leaders, and partners across the state.
Accreditation pathway
In active pursuit of HMBANA accreditation and building toward operation.
Statewide footprint
A growing depot network forming across Georgia's counties.
For the smallest, most fragile babies, human milk is medicine.
Evidence shows that human milk, from the baby's own mother or pasteurized donor human milk, significantly reduces the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis in very low birth weight babies.
- Most-in-need first. The best-evidenced recipients are infants born very small or very early, roughly under 1500 grams or under 32 weeks, most often in the NICU.
- Rigorously screened. Donors complete written and verbal health screening, provide provider statements, and undergo a blood test before any milk is accepted.
- Safely pasteurized. Holder pasteurization heats milk to 62.5°C for 30 minutes, the method with the clinical data behind it, retaining most of the milk's beneficial components.
- Donated, never sold. HMBANA banks are nonprofit and do not pay donors. This practice is backed by the World Health Organization and is recognized as the most safe and ethical practice.
From a mother's gift to a baby's bottle.
This is how HMBANA milk banking works, and how Med Milk is being built to work: eight careful steps that turn donated milk into safe, pasteurized milk for hospitals and outpatient babies.
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Donation
Approved mothers donate their frozen milk.
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Clean technique
The pasteurization room and team are prepared with procedures that reduce contamination risk.
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Pouring
Staff and volunteers pour thawed milk into flasks.
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Nutritional analysis
A sample of each donor's milk is scanned by infrared spectroscopy to measure fat, protein, and lactose content.
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Bottling
Pools of milk are mixed to target the nutritional needs of fragile babies, then poured into BPA-free, tamper-evident bottles.
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Pasteurizing
Milk is heated to 62.5°C for 30 minutes. This Holder pasteurization kills harmful viruses and bacteria while retaining most of the milk's beneficial components.
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Bacteriological cultures
Milk is cultured before and after pasteurization to confirm the absence of Bacillus cereus spores.
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Freezing
Pasteurized milk is stored in a deep freeze until it is dispensed to hospitals and outpatient babies.
See the full process on our Resources page.
There is a place for every Georgian in this.
Support us
Milk is donated at no cost, but operating a milk bank is not free. Gifts help fund pasteurization, screening, transport, and the work of bringing a Georgia bank online.
Donate milk
Partner or host a depot
Community members help grow the network.
Stay updated
Follow our progress toward a Georgia milk bank.
Med Milk is a Georgia 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Gifts support operations, not the purchase of milk. Milk is always donated freely and is never bought or sold. Tax-deductibility language pending counsel review.
Watch a Georgia milk bank come to life.
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