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As a nation, we consume over
20 million litres of milk every day.

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And right now, factories across the
country are processing

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milk from nearly two million cows.

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It's a modern-day miracle that
we all take for granted,

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but it's a race against time.

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Cow to carton in 24 hours.

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How do they do it?

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Well, tonight we are taking you
inside one of the largest

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fresh milk-processing plants
on Earth to find out.

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'I'm Gregg Wallace and I have been
given exclusive access to see how

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'this dairy factory can process
2,000 litres of milk

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'in under a minute.'

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We've got raw milk here,
we start to warm it up, warm it up

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and then we homogenise it.

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'How cutting-edge science is used
to create the perfect drop.'

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We do a bit of a taste, just like
you would taste a good wine,

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it's just milk.

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'And how new technology will
change the future of milking.'

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Mate, I love this.
I absolutely love this.

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'I'm Cherry Healey. I'll be following
the milk off-site to show how

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'it makes cheese on an epic scale.'

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Now this is where we see
the curds and whey.

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Oh, whoa! Eugh!
Eugh, that's like scrambled eggs.

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'And revealing how milk makes
the nation's favourite dessert.'

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That may be the most
beautiful thing I've ever seen.

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COW MOOS

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Along the way,
historian Ruth Goodman will

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investigate our complicated
history with the white stuff.

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With the invention of
the steam engine

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we could bring their milk at
top speed into the cities.

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'We'll be meeting robots.'

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Whoa, whoa. Argh.

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'And people who have worked
in dairies all their lives.'

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Been in this business
18 years, in a fridge.

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I effectively was a robot.

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Most days, 1.5 million litres
of milk will pass through

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here on the way
to your supermarket shelf.

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This is the incredible story
of the factories that feed Britain.

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Tonight, I'm going to show you
the remarkable journey of milk

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through Arla Dairies, one of
the biggest producers of milk,

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cheese and butter in Britain.

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It's a cooperative, owned by
13,500 farmers across Europe,

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including Neil and Jane Dyson.

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They're cute, aren't they?

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I've come to their third-generation
dairy farm in Buckinghamshire

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to see how it all begins, with
a herd of 500 Holstein Friesians.

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Here's your Uncle Greggy,
I've come to give you some lunch.

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The Dysons rear
120 young heifers a year

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that are specially bred
to produce milk.

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How do we go from baby cow to milk?

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When they're 15 months old, they'll
get pregnant for the first time.

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Then they'll have their first calf
when they're two years old

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and then they'll start
producing milk.

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Cos obviously - no calf, no milk.

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How can you guarantee that every
different heifer is going to

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fancy the same looking bull?

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It's not been a problem in the past.

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After calving,
cows produce milk for nine months,

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then they need to be artificially
inseminated to keep having

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more calves and keep producing milk.

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I have to confess to being slightly
uncomfortable with so many big cows.

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Oh, yeah. 700 kilos.

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Don't let 'em get me.

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That one's going to slip over,
fall over and crush me.

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Come on, girls.

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'Milking starts at
4.30 in the morning,

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'and every day the Dysons
milk for 16.5 hours.'

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This one's hiding at
the back, come on.

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I'm going to help.

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Are you ready?

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No, I'm a little bit nervous.

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It's not tricky once you've done
it a few hundred times.

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So you're now looking at
the backside of 34 cows.

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Would you like to choose your cow?

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This one.

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OK. You hold her there
and you squeeze down.

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Before we can get started

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we need to check for something
that all dairy farmers fear.

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Right, her milk's good.

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If she's got mastitis,
which is an infection,

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then it would be watery
with horrible clots.

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If they have mastitis, we must make
sure we give her some antibiotics.

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And if we do that then she
mustn't be milked with the rest of

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the cows, she must be kept separate,
cos you and I must not have

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that milk that's had the antibiotics
in it, we must throw that away.

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Put your finger inside here.

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And can you feel pulse, pulse, pulse?

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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That's the sucking,
like the baby calf would suck you.

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Take this and put it onto her teat.

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You can hear it sucking, can't you?

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Oh, that's it. Yeah, that's it.
You got that one.

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You're OK. There you go.

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Number three and number four.

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And, if you look in here,
you can actually see the milk.

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In around 24 hours, this milk will
be bottled and ready to drink.

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Do you refrigerate the
milk straight away?

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Before it goes into our big tank
it's cooled to three degrees C.

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When there's no more milk coming out

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the machine stops milking
automatically.

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There it goes, automatically off.

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THEY LAUGH

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I'm never going to see a
bowl of breakfast cereal

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in the same way again. Ever.

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The Dysons' cows produce
12,000 litres a day,

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which is destined for the enormous
dairy factory 13 miles away

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in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

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1.5 hours after milking,
Paula Da Silva Pereira arrives

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to collect the milk in
an insulated tanker

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which will keep it chilled at
around three degrees.

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The Dysons are paid according
to the quality of the milk,

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so a daily sample needs to be taken.

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What do we want in the milk?

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We want good fat.
We want high protein.

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I mean, what does it vary by?

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It could vary by 10%,
which doesn't sound a lot,

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but for us it could mean
a penny or two per litre.

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12,000 litres, every day.

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That could be the profit. Yeah.

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Perfect. Do we test this
or does this go off now?

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It goes off, yeah.
They don't trust us to test it? No.

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Well I'm a food and drink expert,
as you know, and let me tell you...

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this milk looks really good to me.

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Oh, brilliant. All right.
Don't worry about a thing.

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Come on, Gregg.

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Oh, crickey.

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It's like being a fireman.

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I'll catch up with the Dysons' milk
later at the dairy factory,

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after Paula has finished the
remainder of her 96-mile route,

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collecting from two other farms.

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Well, there's a truck full of milk
just left the farm, but that is

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just one of tens of thousands
delivering milk all over the nation.

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And we go through milk
in huge quantities.

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Actually, the fact that we can drink
milk in that much quantity

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really makes us quite unusual.

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Almost all of us
can digest milk as babies,

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it's a trait we share
with other mammals.

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But, amazingly, there's only
one mammal that can keep

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digesting milk into
adulthood and that's us.

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Even then, as much as two thirds
of the world's adult population

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find milk difficult to stomach.

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Every time you try and get to sleep,

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it feels like a witch's cauldron's
going off in your stomach.

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If I have a lot of it then I can
spend some time in the bathroom.

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What is it about milk that
some of us can't tolerate?

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Whole milk is made up of 87% water,

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8.3% protein, fat
and vitamins combined

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and 4.7% milk sugars, called lactose,
which can cause problems.

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During childhood, many of us stop
producing an enzyme called lactase

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which helps break down
the milk sugars

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and they become lactose intolerant.

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It's a condition that's
surprisingly common.

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About 50 million Americans
struggle to digest milk.

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In the South of France,
half the locals must say "non"

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to a glass of the white stuff.

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And for the Chinese, astonishingly,
90% of them are lactose intolerant.

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So why is it that so many people in
the world have a problem with milk?

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The man who should know
is Professor Mark Thomas.

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He's been studying evolutionary
genetics for 22 years.

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What is this?

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OK, so this is the piece of DNA
sequence around the bit that

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controls whether you digest
the sugar in milk.

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So, this DNA sequence
is what most people have?

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Most people in the world, yes.

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And most people who have this DNA
sequence cannot digest lactose.

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That's right.
They cannot drink milk?

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That's right. As adults.

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So, if the norm is to not be able
to drink milk, what happened?

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How come most of us
here in Britain can?

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Well, we're unusual.

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People in northwest Europe
are generally what

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we like to call freaks of nature.
SHE LAUGHS

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Scientists think the reason most
Europeans can drink milk,

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is because of a random
genetic mutation that

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first occurred in Hungary
thousands of years ago.

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There's been a change
in this DNA sequence

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somewhere in the last
10,000 or 12,000 years.

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This one here will
be changed to that.

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And that's only one in 3,000 million
of these letters in your genome.

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It's just one, just that one change.
That's it?

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That's it. That's the
difference between me

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being able to have a
milkshake or not? Yeah.

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Some theories suggest being able
to drink milk would have been

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a huge advantage in times of famine.

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You were much more likely to survive

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if you were able to digest
such a nutrient-rich food.

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So the lucky mutation from
C to T in the gene sequence

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quickly spread across Europe
where most of us can now drink milk.

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So, do I have this genetic mutation
that makes me tolerant to milk?

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A few weeks ago, I took a simple
home DNA swab test to find out.

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I sent it off to the lab
and I believe you have the results.

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I do indeed, yes.

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00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:42,360
I wish I had a drumroll or some
kind of crescendo, but I don't.

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Right. So you are...

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Yay, I'm a mutant.

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You are, you're a mutant. Hooray.

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Not only are you a mutant,
but you are a mutant-mutant.

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You actually get two copies
of this, one from your mother

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and one from your father.

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So you get a double shot at being
able to digest the sugar in milk.

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Wow, I want a double latte...

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00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,160
Yeah, there you go,
an excuse for a double latte.

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00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:08,480
..to match my double
genetic mutation. Exactly.

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So one single mutation that
I and most people in Britain

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have in our genes has turned us
into a national of milk lovers.

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Pretty good for a random chance.

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To see the next stage of milk,
I've got to look the part.

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LAUGHING: Yeah!

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I am at one of the biggest
fresh milk dairies in the world.

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200 people work 24/7

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processing up to a whopping
650 million litres a year.

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00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:11,520
Enough to fill 260
Olympic-size swimming pools.

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And two hours
after leaving the cow,

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the milk tanker full of the
Dysons' milk is arriving.

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00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:20,840
It's one of the 75 tankers
that deliver to the

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milk intake area every day,

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00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,520
overseen by technician, Colin Keyes.

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Give me some idea of the scale.

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How much milk is coming
through here?

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Well, roughly, this site does
about 1.5 million litres a day.

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See, it's really hard for me to get
my head around that sort of scale.

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It's massive, it's massive.

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There's Paula. You all right, love?

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00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:49,040
Hiya. What happens there, Colin?

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00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:52,080
I'm going to make sure the milk
that goes to the customer

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is good quality. That is my job.

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You're the bouncer.

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I am the bouncer.
Nothing bad gets past you.

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I'm not a very big bouncer,
but I'm a bouncer, yeah.

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And what Paula's going to do
is get a sample.

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00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:03,920
So why are we checking again?

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00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:06,480
You just checked one farm,
but now you've got other farms

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00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,240
throwing in their milk
where it could be contaminated.

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00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:11,480
We check it before we know
whether she can unload it.

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That's right,
because if we don't check it,

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the milk goes into the system
and we don't want that.

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Will you send the truck
away if it's not right?

238
00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:20,360
Yes, it will be rejected.

239
00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,080
If the temperature was incorrect,
it's gone, the whole lot.

240
00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:27,080
If it's over eight degrees, it's
gone. Antibiotic failure, it's gone.

241
00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:30,800
24,000 litres of milk will be
rejected on one farm messing up.

242
00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:32,320
Mate, that is mental.

243
00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,560
I'm going to check your milk
and we'll be right back

244
00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:36,720
to let you know whether you can
unload it or not, OK.

245
00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:37,840
OK, perfect, I will wait.

246
00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:42,960
We need to do a bit of a taste.

247
00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:45,240
With all this millions
of pounds' worth of kit here,

248
00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:46,560
you still have to taste it?

249
00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,240
Yeah, I have to taste
every single tanker.

250
00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,360
I just microwave it,
we're basically pasteurising it.

251
00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:54,440
Just like you would
taste a good wine,

252
00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:55,920
this is like a...it's just milk.

253
00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:59,800
And you smell it.
Smell that. It smells malty.

254
00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:01,040
It smells good, doesn't it?

255
00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:03,400
It smells like a bedtime
drink I had as a kid.

256
00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:04,800
Exactly, exactly that.

257
00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:08,960
Just checking for any taints,
can you taste anything?

258
00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:10,680
Does it taste nice
and clear and good?

259
00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:13,640
It tastes absolutely lovely, I just
want to put some sugar in there.

260
00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:15,680
It does taste good.
Can we cook up some more?

261
00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:17,680
We can have as much
as you want, Gregg.

262
00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:21,200
Put some chocolate powder in there,
it'll be excellent.

263
00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:22,360
That tastes very good.

264
00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,320
Now I am going to check there's
no antibiotics in the milk.

265
00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:28,200
So I'm going to put it on a
heating block, 180 seconds.

266
00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:31,280
We're testing for antibiotics,
what is the danger to us?

267
00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:34,320
We don't want antibiotics
in the milk chain

268
00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,760
so people sort of become immune
to the antibiotics.

269
00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:40,680
Now I understand why you get
so strung up about this stuff.

270
00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:41,960
We do.

271
00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:45,080
Antibiotics are given to cows
that are sick, just like humans,

272
00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:47,760
and need to be carefully controlled.

273
00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:50,400
By using an indicator strip,
Colin can tell

274
00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,440
if antibiotic molecules
are present in the milk.

275
00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,280
We've got the fat line at the bottom
and the thin line at the top,

276
00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:58,560
so we know that the milk
is a good quality.

277
00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:01,480
We can go out to the tanker now,
we can open the valve,

278
00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:04,440
push start and get that milk
into one of those silos.

279
00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:11,920
I knew that lot would be fine,
because I actually helped milk them.

280
00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:14,360
Two hours, ten minutes
after milking,

281
00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,680
thousands of litres of Dysons'
milk can now be pumped

282
00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:21,720
into one of the 12 raw milk silos
that I'm underneath.

283
00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,200
HE CHUCKLES HAPPILY

284
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:31,320
Yeah. There's 300,000 litres
above us in each of these silos.

285
00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:38,360
Between them, these silos can
hold over six million pints.

286
00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:40,120
It's a little James Bond.

287
00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:41,520
It is a little James Bond.

288
00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:43,840
But I feel a little bit
uncomfortable underneath such

289
00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:46,280
a volume of liquid. Yeah, yeah.

290
00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,280
If that now split open, I'd know
what a Coco Pop feels like.

291
00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:50,760
LAUGHING: Exactly.

292
00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:53,920
The Dysons' milk is stored

293
00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:57,480
in these raw milk silos
for almost 16 hours,

294
00:16:57,480 --> 00:16:59,960
waiting for its turn
to be processed.

295
00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:03,720
Once released, the critical
next stage is the processing zone,

296
00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,920
where raw milk is treated
under the watchful eye

297
00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,160
of process technician,
Mario Salvador.

298
00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:12,400
Welcome to the process control room.

299
00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:14,120
What on earth is this?

300
00:17:14,120 --> 00:17:16,680
Well, the thing is that in this
process control room,

301
00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:17,960
things happen very fast.

302
00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:22,520
One drop of milk is able to go
from that silo into this silo,

303
00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:25,520
which is finished milk,
in 55 seconds.

304
00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:28,600
So let me get this right.
We have got raw milk here...

305
00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,240
Yeah. ..and it'll go
through all of this.

306
00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:33,400
In 55 seconds' time,

307
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,840
it's milk in here, ready to
be drunk by me the customer.

308
00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:38,680
That's correct. Are you lying to me?

309
00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:41,040
No, definitely not,
I'm going to show you.

310
00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:49,080
This is the processing floor,

311
00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:52,280
where the Dysons' milk arrives
18 hours, ten minutes

312
00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:53,960
after leaving the cow.

313
00:17:55,840 --> 00:18:01,680
Here 1.5 million litres of milk,
enough to fill two jumbo jets,

314
00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:04,960
is treated in over
six miles of pipes

315
00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:08,320
by a state-of-the-art,
fully-automated system

316
00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:10,600
running 24 hours a day.

317
00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:13,080
When you see all of this
hi-tech machinery

318
00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,440
it's easy to forget it's
actually coming from the cow.

319
00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:20,840
All the milk here is put through
a four-stage process,

320
00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,320
starting with separation,
then standardisation,

321
00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:25,920
homogenisation,

322
00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:28,440
and finally, pasteurisation.

323
00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:30,880
The first thing we need to do
is to get rid of the fat.

324
00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,240
The milk comes into this machine
which is separated.

325
00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:37,640
That is spinning around
at 4,500rpm.

326
00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:41,680
All the fat globules will go in
the top, the skim will go at the

327
00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:45,680
bottom and we're going to be able to
separate the fat from the skim.

328
00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:48,240
You take all the fat
out at this stage

329
00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:51,760
and then you can put it
back in again. At the end, yes.

330
00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:54,880
Once the milk is separated

331
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:57,400
it needs to be precisely
standardised

332
00:18:57,400 --> 00:18:59,720
by now adding some fat back in.

333
00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:04,920
In the standardising machine,
the computer controls how much

334
00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:07,680
fat is added back
into the skimmed milk.

335
00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:12,160
3.5% for whole milk,
1.7% for semi-skimmed,

336
00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,720
and unsurprisingly, 0% for skimmed.

337
00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:20,880
But the next problem they face
is the fat won't mix evenly.

338
00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:25,080
If you have a lot of raw milk
and you leave it for a few hours,

339
00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:27,120
you're going to have
a line on the top.

340
00:19:27,120 --> 00:19:30,680
We don't want to do that, we want
a perfect solution, clear and white.

341
00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:36,880
To solve this predicament,
the next step is homogenisation,

342
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:41,040
which became common practice in
the late 1980s because consumers

343
00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:44,280
preferred their milk without
a layer of cream on the top.

344
00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:49,240
The milk is forced through
small holes at high pressure,

345
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:54,160
smashing the fat globules
till they become tiny and dispersed.

346
00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:56,400
That cream that we used to get
on the top of the milk,

347
00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:58,960
that doesn't happen anymore.
That's not going to happen.

348
00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:01,600
The final step is pasteurisation,

349
00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:05,360
which kills off the majority
of bacteria in the milk.

350
00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:09,800
This is happening on these plates,
so what we do here is

351
00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:14,160
we heat up the milk,
up to 74.5 degrees

352
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,960
and then the milk goes
through, very fast,

353
00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:20,400
through those pipes for 28 seconds

354
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,400
at 74.5 degrees.

355
00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:25,680
And that's pasteurisation.
That's correct.

356
00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:33,360
Let's see if I can beat the milk
in this 55-second process.

357
00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:35,840
So we've got raw milk here,
all right.

358
00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:40,320
It's flowing through here,
then we start to warm it up,

359
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:44,160
warm it up through these pipes, down
to here where we separate the fat.

360
00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:48,560
Then we decide whether
it's going to be skimmed,

361
00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:50,640
semi-skimmed or full fat.

362
00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,760
We start to add the fat back in
and then we homogenise it... Yes.

363
00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:56,320
..so that we mix all
the fat in with the milk

364
00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:58,680
so that we don't have the fat
layer on top of the milk.

365
00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:01,080
Then we need to pump it
back over here.

366
00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:08,120
We heat it. Yes.

367
00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:09,640
78 degrees. That's correct.

368
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,960
28 seconds. 74.5.

369
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,160
74 degrees, 28 seconds, right,
then we've pasteurised it.

370
00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,720
Now we've got to chill it
so we can use it.

371
00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,360
And that's five degrees
and that's over here.

372
00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:25,480
All of that in one minute,
how did I do? Very good.

373
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:31,280
The Dysons' milk has now moved into
a chilled holding tank, to be mixed

374
00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:35,560
for about 30 minutes before the next
stage of its remarkable journey.

375
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:39,960
Who knew all that?
I most certainly didn't.

376
00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:43,680
You see a cow, you know it produces
milk, you think it goes in a carton.

377
00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:48,760
I had absolutely no idea how milk
goes through so many processes.

378
00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:54,480
I've seen how pasteurisation,
which we take for granted,

379
00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:57,520
is such a crucial procedure
in milk production today.

380
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:03,000
And historian Ruth Goodman
is discovering how this process

381
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,920
has saved hundreds
of thousands of lives.

382
00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,280
Before the Industrial Revolution,

383
00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:12,000
most people drank their milk raw,
meaning straight from the cow.

384
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,720
And wherever you lived,
you were never very far

385
00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:16,920
from one of our
four-legged friends.

386
00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,680
But all that was about
to change with

387
00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:25,240
the arrival of the Victorians
and their incredible machines.

388
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,960
As Britain steamed ahead
towards the late 19th century,

389
00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,520
a network of railways moved milk

390
00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:36,600
hundreds of miles
around the country.

391
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:40,160
With the invention of the steam
engine, the cows could be out in the

392
00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:44,840
countryside and we could bring their
milk at top speed into the cities.

393
00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,640
It seems a perfect
win-win situation,

394
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:59,080
but this new efficient distribution
method had one fatal consequence

395
00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:03,080
and that was the spread of
bovine tuberculosis, TB.

396
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:10,200
In the 19th century,

397
00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:14,000
tuberculosis was the biggest
killer in Western Europe.

398
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,280
Bovine tuberculosis was
a variant that could be

399
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,720
caught by drinking raw cow's milk.

400
00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:25,480
And raw cow's milk was being
efficiently delivered all over

401
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:27,000
the country by rail.

402
00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:32,760
The problem was
one of contamination.

403
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:36,480
The milk from a large number
of different cows

404
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,000
was mixed together in churns,

405
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,160
which increased
the risk of infection.

406
00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:45,040
Peter Atkins, Professor of Geography
at Durham University, has been

407
00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:49,120
looking into how devastating this
was for the British population.

408
00:23:49,120 --> 00:23:51,320
How many people were
affected by this?

409
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,400
In the period that I've been
looking at, 1850 to 1960, something

410
00:23:55,400 --> 00:24:00,560
like 800,000 dying from bovine
tuberculosis for Great Britain.

411
00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:03,120
Because they were drinking
more milk than any other

412
00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:06,520
group in the population, we're
talking here about young children.

413
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:08,120
If you had milk from that churn,

414
00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:10,880
it would have been possible
to catch tuberculosis

415
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:12,600
because of the mixing process.

416
00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:19,120
In the 1920s, the churns changed
to special milk rail tankers

417
00:24:19,120 --> 00:24:21,080
which were glass-lined for hygiene

418
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,960
and cork-insulated to
keep the milk cool.

419
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,000
When they moved over
to the big tankers,

420
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:30,160
you've got lots of milk all
being mixed together.

421
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,760
I mean, this must have made
the problem a lot worse?

422
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:35,760
From 1926 onwards, that's correct.

423
00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:40,040
With 1,000 cows, that milk tanker
was still infected

424
00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,320
just by one cow
that had tuberculosis.

425
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,440
It's a disease which can be
diluted many times over.

426
00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:52,280
'Back in 1864, scientist
Louis Pasteur discovered that

427
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:56,720
'heating wine would kill
most of the bad bacteria.'

428
00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:58,680
A pan of hot water.

429
00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:02,200
'The process was named after
the man who invested it -

430
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:03,960
'pasteurisation.

431
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:08,560
'A method that could be used to kill
the tuberculosis microbes in milk.'

432
00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:12,080
So, this is our unpasteurised milk
straight from the cow.

433
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:17,400
'It was so simple and effective,
we still use this method today.

434
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,600
'But people in the 1930s
and early '40s were very

435
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:25,680
'distrustful of this potentially
life-saving option.'

436
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,200
Considering it is
such a simple process,

437
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,280
why do you think people
were so reluctant?

438
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:32,760
Yes, it's strange, isn't it?

439
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:36,280
I think there's some reluctance
on the part of the consumers.

440
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:39,040
Some of whom think that the
ingredients of the milk

441
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:42,120
are being damaged,
such as the vitamins for instance.

442
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:48,040
Incredibly, it wasn't until the
1960s that it became the norm

443
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:51,720
to pasteurise milk in the UK.
And even to this day,

444
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:54,920
it's not compulsory in
England and Wales.

445
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,000
So just a matter of lifting
it from the hot water...

446
00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:00,240
..into the cold.

447
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:06,000
The pasteurising of raw milk and
the introduction of compulsory

448
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:10,000
TB testing in cattle,
which eradicated cows with TB,

449
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,160
reduced the number of cases
of human tuberculosis.

450
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:21,040
By 1960, most cattle were free
of the disease and the risk of

451
00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,000
bovine tuberculosis
to the human population

452
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:25,680
is now a thing of the past.

453
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:36,880
Back in the Aylesbury factory,

454
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:40,520
we've just pasteurised our milk
on a massive scale.

455
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:44,680
Now, over 18 hours and 35 minutes
since it left the cow,

456
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,600
Mario needs to take
another sample of milk

457
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:49,640
to make sure the
processes have worked.

458
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:52,560
If this passes the test,

459
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,880
this is virtually supermarket-ready
milk, right? Yes, that's correct.

460
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:01,040
First up, he is testing that this
enormous batch of

461
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:05,560
semi-skimmed milk has the
correct 1.7% of fat in it.

462
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:08,200
On this equipment,
this is able to tell me

463
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:11,800
how much fat it is in the sample.
That was semi-skimmed milk.

464
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:15,680
And as you can see on the screen,
standardisation passed is correct.

465
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:19,440
'Next, he needs to make sure that
it's been homogenised correctly.'

466
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,280
So we just need a
single drop of milk.

467
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,320
'With no signs of fatty lumps.'

468
00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:28,040
As you can see,
the fat globules, all of them

469
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:32,000
have got more or less the same size,
they're very, very small.

470
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:36,800
If you compare the raw milk,
the fat globules are big.

471
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:40,400
So we can say that the milk has
been homogenised properly.

472
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,680
Now we have one more thing to do,

473
00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:46,000
we need to taste it
and make sure it tastes nice.

474
00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:53,360
Yeah, that's the semi-skimmed milk
I buy. There we go.

475
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:56,960
With the press of a button,

476
00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:00,400
98,000 litres of milk is released

477
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:03,560
into one of the 12
finished milk silos,

478
00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:07,560
18 hours, 39 minutes
after leaving the cow.

479
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:10,640
Do you know what,
I can hear it gushing.

480
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:14,400
To ensure a constant supply,
milk gets stock piled here

481
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,720
for up to five hours, waiting
for its turn to be bottled.

482
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:24,040
While I'm being totally gobsmacked
by the massive volumes of milk

483
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:25,720
processed so quickly,

484
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:29,760
Cherry is busy investigating how
cheese is made on a mammoth scale.

485
00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:35,720
While the vast majority of milk
ends up in our fridges

486
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:38,800
just days after it's left the
farm, some spends months,

487
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:41,480
if not years,
at cheese factories like this one.

488
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:47,400
Here in Taw Valley, Devon,

489
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,720
is one of the largest cheese
factories in the UK,

490
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:56,200
making an enormous 100 million
blocks of cheese a year.

491
00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:00,880
Rob Whitely, process manager,
is going to show me how it's done.

492
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:04,600
Wow. What is that smell?

493
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:08,440
So that smell is the start of
the cheese-making process.

494
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:12,000
That is strong. If my eyes start
to water, will you let me know?

495
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,560
I can't smell it,
so I must be used to it.

496
00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:16,720
THEY LAUGH

497
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:20,280
So what is going on here?
These vats are enormous.

498
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:24,000
We've got ten cheese vats here.
Predominantly we make cheddar.

499
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:25,160
In a year,

500
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:29,240
we will make approximately 37,000
tonnes of cheese. Wow.

501
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:39,960
A million litres of fresh milk comes
through this factory every 24 hours.

502
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:46,880
Here it comes, wow.

503
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:52,360
Oh, my goodness, that is an
unfathomable amount of milk.

504
00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:55,600
They'll be 20,000 litres
of milk in this vat.

505
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:57,520
Absolutely amazing.

506
00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:01,000
To make cheese on a monumental
scale like this,

507
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:05,880
you need a lot of a rather surprising
but crucial ingredient.

508
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,800
Once we've started putting the milk
into the bottom of the vat,

509
00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:12,880
we then need to add the bacteria to
start producing acid in the cheese.

510
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:17,640
These good bacteria feed on
milk sugars called lactose

511
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,040
and transform it into lactic acid.

512
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:24,320
And we isolate particular
strains depending on what

513
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:26,720
characteristic
we want in the end cheese.

514
00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:28,800
A bit like when you're
making a curry

515
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:30,840
and you use spices to flavour it?
Yes.

516
00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:33,080
That's how you use bacteria?
Exactly like that.

517
00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:36,280
Like a chef?
It's like being a cheese chef.

518
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:40,240
And it's the bacteria that these
chefs use that determine

519
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:43,720
the characteristics
and flavour of a good cheese.

520
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:45,440
All in. Excellent.

521
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:54,280
Now the process of producing
cheddar on an epic scale

522
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:55,640
can continue.

523
00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,760
A milk-clotting enzyme
called rennet is added.

524
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:04,320
This, together with the lactic acid,
helps to separate the milk

525
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,960
solids, called curds,
from the liquid, known as whey.

526
00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:13,880
So this is where we see
the curds and whey.

527
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:18,600
Oh, whoa, eugh!
Eugh, that's like scrambled eggs.

528
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:22,560
What we can do is take some out
and show you. Oh, it's warm.

529
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:29,400
It's like porridge and scrambled
eggs, that's extraordinary.

530
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,720
The whey is then drained off,
leaving the curd

531
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:37,720
which is heated and stirred to
squeeze out yet more whey.

532
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:41,240
The massive curd is
formed into huge slabs.

533
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:55,400
Oh, wow.

534
00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:01,840
All this time the bacteria have been
feeding on lactose in the milk,

535
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,920
but now they need to be controlled.

536
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:09,800
So we add salt to then arrest
the action of the bacteria.

537
00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:12,520
Because if we let the bacteria
continue, they would actually

538
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:13,920
destroy the cheese.

539
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:15,280
We don't want that to happen.

540
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:18,400
We want to close them down,
they've had a bit of a party,

541
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:20,480
now it's time for them
to wind down a bit.

542
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,760
Finally, the salted curd is
compressed into blocks,

543
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:32,520
vacuum-packed for protection
and ready for maturing.

544
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:39,560
400 years ago, cheese makers stored
cheddar in caves, which are always

545
00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:44,360
cool with high humidity, ideal
to stop the cheeses drying out.

546
00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:46,960
Some cheeses are still
matured that way.

547
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,680
But here, next door to the factory,
there's a controlled maturing

548
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,640
warehouse, which is kept at a
constant ten degrees Centigrade.

549
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:04,160
There are over 28,000 tonnes of
cheese ripening at any one time,

550
00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:07,520
worth over £150 million.

551
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:12,080
Is it only the expensive artisan
cheese that is matured?

552
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:14,800
Absolutely not,
all our cheese has to be matured.

553
00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,360
When it comes from the production
area, it's actually curd, and that

554
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:21,960
curd needs to be broken down into
cheese particles that we can eat.

555
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,560
A standard cheddar will take
around six months to mature,

556
00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:30,560
but it's Colin's job to work out
which cheese can ripen and

557
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:35,640
improve its flavour over the next 18
to 24 months, to become extra mature

558
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:39,600
and he wants to see if I can tell
which cheese has that potential.

559
00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:44,560
So what am I looking out for
in the taste?

560
00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:49,520
You're looking for a nice clean
flavour, buttery, smooth. Mmm.

561
00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:53,960
And that makes it have the potential
to mature into an extra mature.

562
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,880
OK, I've tried that one,
it's delicious.

563
00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,800
This one's three months older
than the previous one.

564
00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:04,000
That tastes a little more bitter.
A little less creamy.

565
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,560
Yeah. I mean, it's so subtle.

566
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:07,800
And you're right. Really?

567
00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,880
That was the poor one, the one
that's not going to make the grade,

568
00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:13,800
so that one's going to be sold now.
So I'd selected the correct one,

569
00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:15,880
does that mean that
I get a job here?

570
00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:16,960
You get the job.

571
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:20,160
Tasting cheese all day.
I am happy as Larry.

572
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:32,240
Back at the dairy factory,

573
00:34:32,240 --> 00:34:35,400
the next vital stage for our milk
is for it to be bottled.

574
00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:42,560
40,000 plastic bottles an hour
are blow-moulded in a process

575
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:45,760
so secret that it has to be
kept from competitors,

576
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:47,960
so I'm not allowed to see it.

577
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:51,520
And there's no point making them
somewhere else, you'd just be

578
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:55,880
transporting air, so they're made
here in a factory on site.

579
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,280
A million bottles a day.

580
00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:04,040
Once they're created, the
empty bottles are transported

581
00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:05,760
to the colossal filling hall.

582
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,240
It's the size of the pitch
at Wembley Stadium,

583
00:35:17,240 --> 00:35:19,680
containing six filling lines.

584
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:24,560
Brilliant! All of a sudden,
it's got milk in it.

585
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:31,880
Up until now, milk has just been in
vast volumes that I can't compute.

586
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:35,000
Now I can see a bottle that I buy.

587
00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:39,800
And in this highly-automated world,

588
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:44,600
the only guy I can find here is
Miles Lord, production team leader.

589
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:46,560
Do you know how fast this is going?

590
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:50,120
Well, this filler now is running
at 17,000 bottles an hour.

591
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:52,560
Which is the same as 4.7 a second.

592
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:54,080
Nearly five bottles a second?

593
00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:57,400
Nearly five bottles a second.
There's three stages to the filling.

594
00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:00,360
When it first comes in,
it runs at a slower rate

595
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:02,920
and that stops it splashing up
and foaming.

596
00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:06,000
Then the speed increases,
we put more in.

597
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,560
And the last bit,
we slow that right down again

598
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:10,360
just so it doesn't foam at the top.

599
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:11,960
And that's how I pour my beer.

600
00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:13,080
Exactly.

601
00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:15,120
It's got to keep moving, hasn't it?

602
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:18,000
If we have the line
standing for 20 minutes, we've got

603
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,960
to get rid of the milk
that's on the line.

604
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:24,880
Just 23 hours and 56 minutes
after leaving the cow,

605
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,080
I can watch our milk get bottled,

606
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:30,760
although it can take up to
48 hours to reach this point.

607
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:33,200
What's happening now?

608
00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:35,440
We've filled the bottle up
and within seconds,

609
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:39,120
within point-seconds,
we put a cap on it.

610
00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:43,320
I can't think of anything worse than
milk dripping all over my shopping.

611
00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:45,800
How can you guarantee that
that lid is on?

612
00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,680
Everything we do is checked
at every stage

613
00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:50,560
to make sure that the milk is fine.

614
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:54,920
We have a camera, it's looking at
every single bottle that goes out

615
00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:57,720
and it's saying,
"Is that in the right place?"

616
00:36:57,720 --> 00:36:59,320
And what happens if it's not?

617
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:01,000
If it's not, it'll reject it.

618
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,600
Can we put one on there isn't
right and see what happens?

619
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:06,360
We can.

620
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:10,400
To test the camera, we've taken the
foil seal off and replaced the lid.

621
00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:14,640
So it should be spotting it.

622
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:20,280
MACHINE BEEPS
GREGG CHEERS

623
00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:22,160
There you go, that's our bottle.

624
00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:28,520
Do you load it into these
cartons of milk?

625
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:30,760
We don't do that here, no. Good.
Do you not like those?

626
00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:33,720
No, the whole nation hates them.
OK, yeah. This is what we want.

627
00:37:33,720 --> 00:37:36,440
You can open that and not end up
with it over your jumper.

628
00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:38,240
Yeah, absolutely, hopefully.

629
00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:45,080
While I'm bowled over at the scale
of bottled milk produced here,

630
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:48,160
Arla makes another product
on a mammoth scale that gets

631
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:49,960
spread on our toast every morning.

632
00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:56,720
The co-operative produces
43% of the UK's butter.

633
00:37:56,720 --> 00:37:59,760
And Ruth is retracing the steps
of Victorian dairy maids

634
00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:02,360
to discover just how
butter used to be made.

635
00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:11,160
Before refrigeration,
milk went sour very quickly,

636
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:14,320
so farmers had to come up
with ways not to waste it.

637
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:18,240
The answer - turn it into butter.

638
00:38:18,240 --> 00:38:22,360
But it was hard physical labour, and
as it was considered indoor work,

639
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:26,640
mostly a job for dairy maids,
many as young as 13.

640
00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:31,960
A maid might have to milk as many
as ten cows in the morning

641
00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:35,040
before she could even
start making the butter.

642
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,680
That's about two and a half hours'
work before you've even begun.

643
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:43,360
On this working Victorian
farm in Shropshire,

644
00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:46,480
Ingrid Hartung keeps
traditional techniques alive.

645
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:50,280
She chills milk in cool water
to make the cream rise to the top

646
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:52,560
and skims it off to make butter.

647
00:38:56,840 --> 00:39:00,200
So there it is, our lovely cream.

648
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,720
And then, of course, from this
we make yellow butter.

649
00:39:03,720 --> 00:39:05,720
That's right. In the spring/summer,

650
00:39:05,720 --> 00:39:09,080
it is actually a nice yellow,
rich colour because, of course,

651
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:12,480
the natural ingredients that the cows
are eating when they're grazing

652
00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:15,680
outside makes a nice yellow colour.

653
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:20,080
Although grass looks green,
there's actually a yellow/orange

654
00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:25,280
chemical called beta carotene
found in every mouthful a cow eats.

655
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:28,280
In winter,
when the cows eat less grass,

656
00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:30,480
they produce a much paler butter

657
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:33,480
which is less appealing
to consumers.

658
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,560
So here we are trying to do this
in the middle of winter,

659
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,600
which is, erm, challenging.
Challenging, yes.

660
00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:43,120
So dairy maids came up with
an ingenious solution to produce

661
00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:45,840
just the right shade of yellow.

662
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:50,160
We substitute the carotene that
the cows would eat in the grass

663
00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:52,840
with a good old-fashioned carrot.

664
00:39:56,840 --> 00:39:59,520
Just put a little bit
and see what colour.

665
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:03,680
Not very much but there we go,
we don't want to overdo it.

666
00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:10,520
We're now ready for the
hard graft of making butter.

667
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:13,400
Now, if we've got everything
absolutely perfect

668
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:16,680
and the cream's top quality
and the temperatures are perfect,

669
00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:20,000
we could expect this cream
to turn in what? 20 minutes?

670
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,840
If it cools down a bit, half an hour,
but something like that, yes.

671
00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:26,120
The cream needs to be shaken enough

672
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:30,400
so that the fat in it clumps
together to make butter.

673
00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:33,520
And if we've got it all wrong
we could be here...?

674
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:34,920
Two hours plus.

675
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:36,960
THEY LAUGH

676
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:39,320
We'll take turns.
Go on, you get started.

677
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:47,440
'Unlike a lot of jobs for women at
the time, dairy work was well paid,

678
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:51,200
'but you had to have very
strong shoulders and arms.'

679
00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:53,000
So shall I take over for a bit?

680
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,000
Yes, if you want to,
that would be very good.

681
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:58,400
'Using a much larger churn,
a really brawny dairy maid could

682
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:01,640
'make 20 or 30lb
of butter in one go.'

683
00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:03,560
So let's just have a little look.

684
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:06,800
'After churning until my arms ache,
I'm starting to realise what

685
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:09,880
'a difficult job being a dairy maid
would have been.

686
00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:13,360
'17 pints of milk yields
only a pound of butter.

687
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,120
'In my case, no butter at all.

688
00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:20,440
'So far, it's just
really thick cream.'

689
00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:32,160
So we are hitting two and a half
hours and it's still not come.

690
00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:34,720
Yeah. I mean, this can happen,
can't it? Yeah.

691
00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:37,160
If the weather's difficult
and the cold...

692
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:38,680
Sometimes it's the cream,

693
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:42,360
but at this time of year, it's more
likely to be the cold, yeah.

694
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:46,080
Despite butter being best
kept in the fridge,

695
00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:50,560
ideally it needs room temperature
for the fats to solidify.

696
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:53,760
So here, in the freezing
temperatures of the dairy,

697
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:55,560
we're having trouble.

698
00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:57,480
It's very disappointing,

699
00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:01,200
but luckily you had got a batch
you'd already done. Yes.

700
00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:03,000
THEY LAUGH

701
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,840
Once the butter was formed,
any dairy maid worth her salt

702
00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:08,560
would shape a design as a trademark.

703
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:14,040
There are all kinds of different
patterns that you can just do

704
00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:16,160
with the butter pats.

705
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:18,320
That's a single wheat sheaf.

706
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:22,520
Hand-crafted butter became far
less common after mechanisation

707
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:26,000
was gradually introduced
during the 19th century.

708
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:31,800
Today, automatic churns have
almost entirely replaced

709
00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:33,440
the muscles of dairy maids.

710
00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:41,240
But our love affair with creamy
butter still continues.

711
00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:50,600
Back at the dairy factory,

712
00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:55,000
it's taken our milk just under
24 hours to get into a bottle.

713
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:57,320
Now the bottles are
put onto trolleys

714
00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:00,480
and are heading for distribution
to our grocery shelf.

715
00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:06,960
We've just packed up this milk
the other side of that wall.

716
00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:10,280
Traditionally, in this hall
would have been hundreds of people,

717
00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:13,320
but here they like to do things
a little differently.

718
00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:19,720
MUSIC: Robot Rock
by Daft Punk

719
00:43:24,720 --> 00:43:27,120
This is the only place in the UK

720
00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:30,720
where futuristic robots like these
distribute milk.

721
00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:41,520
In this custom-built,
enormous fridge

722
00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:45,880
75 state-of-the-art robots transport
all this from the filling zone

723
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:47,200
to the distribution bays

724
00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:49,760
to send on to
supermarkets nationwide.

725
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:56,320
They shift 1.5 million litres
of milk per day,

726
00:43:56,320 --> 00:44:00,640
enough to provide daily milk to
Greater Manchester, Somerset

727
00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:03,280
and the West Midlands combined.

728
00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:06,160
I've never seen
anything like this ever.

729
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:07,640
This looks nuts to me.

730
00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:15,400
Dispatch team leader, Paul Ansell,
is a robot expert.

731
00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:17,880
Somebody is controlling
these robots, are they?

732
00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:20,080
I mean they're not
thinking for themselves?

733
00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:22,920
It's not a human that controls
the robots, they're controlled

734
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:25,480
by the warehouse management system
that's in the fridge.

735
00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:28,520
When the milk comes through
the door, there's an RFID,

736
00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:32,000
a radio frequency identification
number that goes to each trolley,

737
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:35,320
and then the robots will move or
action their moves around the fridge.

738
00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:37,640
With robots running backwards
and forwards,

739
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:39,760
you must have to be careful
where you stand.

740
00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:41,640
Not really,
it's got the sensor in front.

741
00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:45,000
The laser's always looking
in front of it at any given time.

742
00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:48,640
I'm going to test out the robot's

743
00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:51,480
laser beam
collision avoidance device.

744
00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:56,280
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

745
00:44:57,400 --> 00:45:00,200
HE LAUGHS

746
00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:02,160
That's just nuts.

747
00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:04,600
You could actually
take your robot for a walk.

748
00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:06,840
Come on, come on. Come on, then.

749
00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:09,800
Stop.

750
00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:10,960
Good boy.

751
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:18,240
And off she goes.

752
00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:22,160
After 35 miles of work

753
00:45:22,160 --> 00:45:25,320
these robots know
to automatically dock

754
00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:27,440
and charge their lithium batteries.

755
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:31,960
It goes and puts its feet up
and has a cup of tea.

756
00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:33,920
It puts itself on charge.

757
00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:36,440
If you didn't have the robots here,
you'd need people.

758
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:38,240
How many people would you need?

759
00:45:38,240 --> 00:45:41,560
Somewhere in the region of
300 people in this fridge alone.

760
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:44,120
I've been in this business
18 years now.

761
00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:47,360
So, I started in a fridge,
I effectively was a robot.

762
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:51,400
You have to think each trolley
weighs about 240 kilos, if you're

763
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:55,120
doing that for a 12-hour shift,
it's very, very labour intensive.

764
00:45:55,120 --> 00:45:57,000
So a robot never phones in sick. No.

765
00:45:57,000 --> 00:45:59,160
Never takes a tea break
when he shouldn't be. No.

766
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:01,560
But you can't talk to a robot
about football on a Monday.

767
00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:03,680
You could try but you
wouldn't get an answer back.

768
00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:09,920
Robots haven't just taken
control in this spectrum.

769
00:46:09,920 --> 00:46:13,160
Out on the farms, there is a
robotic revolution going on.

770
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:23,640
In the heart of the Lancashire
countryside is a scene

771
00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:25,800
that could be from science fiction.

772
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:33,120
On a dairy farm in Blackburn
the cows are in control.

773
00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:40,440
MUSIC: Thus Spake Zarathustra
by Richard Strauss

774
00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:44,720
This is a state-of-the-art Merlin.

775
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:54,760
An automatic, laser-guided,
milking robot.

776
00:46:57,240 --> 00:47:02,160
Machines like these are being used
in about 5% of farms in the UK

777
00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:05,800
and the cows can choose to use
them whenever they want.

778
00:47:09,120 --> 00:47:13,280
Chris Bargh installed his three
milking robots six years ago.

779
00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:18,760
His herd of 180 cows choose to milk
themselves three times a day,

780
00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:21,960
producing 5,000 litres.

781
00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:24,360
The cows come in when they
want to be milked. Yeah.

782
00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:26,280
And they get milked by robots. Yes.

783
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:28,440
The cows actually come
and milk themselves

784
00:47:28,440 --> 00:47:30,160
whenever they want to be milked.

785
00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:33,720
It's all robotic milking now.
It's absolutely amazing.

786
00:47:33,720 --> 00:47:35,800
That cow can't wait to get in.

787
00:47:35,800 --> 00:47:37,200
Can't wait to get in, no.

788
00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:39,600
So they're actually queuing up
to get in there.

789
00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:42,760
Yeah, no, they just come in
and queue up whenever.

790
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:46,360
And the clever cows will look to see
which has the shortest queue.

791
00:47:51,040 --> 00:47:54,560
With the cow in position, it's time
for the robot to get to work.

792
00:47:56,240 --> 00:47:59,360
So you'll see now as the
brushes come round...

793
00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:01,200
and they go round
and clean the teats.

794
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:04,560
Oh, my word.

795
00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:07,280
And then you'll see the lasers
start flashing on the teats now.

796
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:09,720
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

797
00:48:09,720 --> 00:48:13,440
Yeah, so now it's pinpointing
exactly where them teats are.

798
00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:15,600
Oh, it's going...
Yeah, it's got it, it's got it.

799
00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:19,600
These robots are working
24 hours a day.

800
00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:20,960
They never stop, yeah.

801
00:48:20,960 --> 00:48:23,680
The cows can be milked
whenever they want. Yes.

802
00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:27,360
So the cows coming out now, anybody
that's used the public transport

803
00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:29,640
in London will recognise this,
I think.

804
00:48:29,640 --> 00:48:32,160
You put your ticket in,
the barrier moves. Yeah.

805
00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:34,800
Now how does the robot know
which cow it's got?

806
00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:38,520
Every cow has a little ear tag -
a little transponder in its ear -

807
00:48:38,520 --> 00:48:40,440
and that's measured on the robot.

808
00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:47,560
Chris' robots can record almost
every aspect of his herd, from each

809
00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:51,920
cow's exact diet, to the amount of
fat, protein and sugar in the milk.

810
00:48:53,520 --> 00:48:58,320
When I was a lad, I was still milking
conventionally, that had to be sent

811
00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:02,200
away to a laboratory once a month
to be able to get that information.

812
00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:04,800
Now, every single time
that cow's milked,

813
00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:06,560
we know that information.

814
00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:14,720
Merlin needs to be strong enough
to cope with the weight of a

815
00:49:14,720 --> 00:49:18,800
full-size cow,
which can be as heavy as 11 men,

816
00:49:18,800 --> 00:49:22,680
but it also needs to be
gentle enough for milking.

817
00:49:22,680 --> 00:49:27,200
The robot can make tiny adjustments
to the squeeze on the cow's teat

818
00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:30,800
so it feels even gentler
than a calf's mouth.

819
00:49:32,040 --> 00:49:34,880
The first robots were
introduced in the '90s,

820
00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:37,680
but more recently
the technology has advanced

821
00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:42,200
and now about 30% of new milking
systems in the UK are robotic.

822
00:49:43,960 --> 00:49:45,880
But what happens if it goes wrong?

823
00:49:47,600 --> 00:49:50,640
If the same fault happened with
three cows on the trot,

824
00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:55,120
the whole robot shuts itself down
and rings my mobile phone

825
00:49:55,120 --> 00:49:57,080
to tell me there's a breakdown.

826
00:49:57,080 --> 00:50:00,360
And the use of technology
goes way beyond milking.

827
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:04,600
It can even offer a calming back rub
to keep the cows contented.

828
00:50:06,560 --> 00:50:10,280
Aren't we missing out here on the
human interaction between you,

829
00:50:10,280 --> 00:50:12,040
the farmer, and the cow?

830
00:50:12,040 --> 00:50:14,920
We see the character of these
cows so much more now,

831
00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:16,560
because we're not forcing 'em.

832
00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:19,080
Because humans aren't really
telling them to do anything.

833
00:50:19,080 --> 00:50:21,600
Yeah. They're relaxed and chilled.

834
00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:25,520
We've had the robots in six years
now, and when we first put them in,

835
00:50:25,520 --> 00:50:28,920
everyone was a little bit nervous.
Oooh, robotic milking the cows.

836
00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:31,880
Some of the older cows
wouldn't change their ways.

837
00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:36,320
80% of the herd have never
seen a standard parlour,

838
00:50:36,320 --> 00:50:39,320
they just assume that milking is done
like this and always has been.

839
00:50:39,320 --> 00:50:41,920
Mate, I love this.
I absolutely love this.

840
00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:45,200
Well, listen, I'm not a farmer,
but they look pretty happy to me

841
00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:48,520
and they're wandering in of their
own accord, no doubt about that.

842
00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:51,360
These cows want to be in there,
they want to be milked.

843
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:52,760
I can tell you that. Yes.

844
00:50:56,360 --> 00:51:00,280
These are happy cows
and the milk yields are up.

845
00:51:00,280 --> 00:51:02,000
This could well be the future.

846
00:51:07,040 --> 00:51:09,560
While Gregg has seen
the future of milking,

847
00:51:09,560 --> 00:51:12,960
I've come to a factory
in Gloucester to see how milk is

848
00:51:12,960 --> 00:51:16,480
turned into one of the most
decadent products of all.

849
00:51:18,120 --> 00:51:21,880
This tanker contains
28 tonnes of milk,

850
00:51:21,880 --> 00:51:26,080
and at this factory they get through
around six of them a week.

851
00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:35,400
This factory is an ice cream
lover's delight.

852
00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:38,800
Brian Field is the
quality assurance manager.

853
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:41,320
Why is milk so important
to ice cream?

854
00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:44,320
Milk is one of the
fundamental ingredients

855
00:51:44,320 --> 00:51:48,560
from which ice cream is made.
All our ice cream recipes use milk.

856
00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:53,400
We use whole milk, we use cream,
we use concentrated milk

857
00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:55,160
and we use milk powder.

858
00:51:56,360 --> 00:52:01,040
Brian takes me to where it all
starts, the mix department.

859
00:52:01,040 --> 00:52:03,160
Whoa, oh, my goodness!

860
00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:04,960
There's the ice cream mix.

861
00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:08,040
That smells amazing.

862
00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:10,600
We add our milk, our sugar
and our water,

863
00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:13,680
blend it all together to
make the ice cream mix.

864
00:52:13,680 --> 00:52:16,560
Once that's done,
we add some vanilla essence.

865
00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:20,000
'Each vat holds four tonnes of milk

866
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:22,920
'and normally needs 4kg
of vanilla essence.'

867
00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:24,760
There we go. Perfect.

868
00:52:24,760 --> 00:52:26,000
What will this become?

869
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:28,280
This will become Magnum.
Really? Yeah.

870
00:52:28,280 --> 00:52:31,160
So this will contribute...
This is the centre of Magnum.

871
00:52:31,160 --> 00:52:33,640
This is my greatest dream,

872
00:52:33,640 --> 00:52:37,120
I can't believe I'm at the centre
of an ice cream.

873
00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:39,760
Once the ingredients are combined,
they're pasteurised

874
00:52:39,760 --> 00:52:43,800
and then the mix makes its way
to the factory floors.

875
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:46,600
Greg Barrett is
the production labour manager.

876
00:52:46,600 --> 00:52:50,240
From the mix department, the mix
is pumped over to these freezers.

877
00:52:50,240 --> 00:52:52,200
Yes. And in these freezers

878
00:52:52,200 --> 00:52:55,560
it's almost whisked like an egg
to minus-six.

879
00:52:57,480 --> 00:53:01,520
At this point,
a vital ingredient is added - air -

880
00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:04,800
which, believe it or not,
makes up half of ice cream.

881
00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:07,800
And the more air,
the softer the ice cream.

882
00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:11,320
As you can see there,
the stick is put in it.

883
00:53:11,320 --> 00:53:15,160
An ice cream at minus-six degrees
is quite pliable.

884
00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:16,320
Oh, wow.

885
00:53:16,320 --> 00:53:17,960
As you can see by that.

886
00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:20,360
So it's still very soft
at this stage.

887
00:53:20,360 --> 00:53:24,240
Yes, we've got to get it quickly
hardened into a hardening tunnel.

888
00:53:24,240 --> 00:53:28,600
It then comes out the other side and
it's that hard it's almost brittle.

889
00:53:30,320 --> 00:53:35,440
In this hardening tunnel
the ice creams are blast frozen.

890
00:53:35,440 --> 00:53:39,800
This ultra-fast freezing creates
tiny ice crystals in the mix.

891
00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:41,320
The smaller the crystals,

892
00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:44,280
the smoother
the texture of the ice cream.

893
00:53:44,280 --> 00:53:48,160
And as you can tell,
it's very, very brittle.

894
00:53:48,160 --> 00:53:50,280
I mean, it's rock hard.
Rock hard, yeah.

895
00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:51,800
Absolutely rock hard.

896
00:53:51,800 --> 00:53:53,800
Now we dip it in the chocolate.

897
00:53:53,800 --> 00:53:56,880
But if the chocolate is hot,
I presume ...

898
00:53:56,880 --> 00:53:58,640
Yes, it's plus-44 degrees.

899
00:53:58,640 --> 00:54:01,400
Then when you dip that in,
surely the ice cream will melt.

900
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:04,760
No, it won't melt because
it's been in the hardening tunnel

901
00:54:04,760 --> 00:54:09,320
for half an hour approximately,
at minus-40 degrees.

902
00:54:09,320 --> 00:54:12,800
And now the ultimate
ice cream experience,

903
00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:17,920
the frozen vanilla ice cream is
coated in warm Belgian chocolate.

904
00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:22,680
MUSIC: L'amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle
by Georges Bizet

905
00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:29,520
That may be the most beautiful
thing I've ever seen.

906
00:54:29,520 --> 00:54:31,080
That is pure decadence.

907
00:54:31,080 --> 00:54:32,400
Absolutely amazing.

908
00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:42,200
The chocolate-coated ice creams
are wrapped, boxed and packed,

909
00:54:42,200 --> 00:54:44,600
ready for cold storage
and distribution.

910
00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:49,000
To fulfil our boundless
love of ice cream

911
00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:51,160
this factory runs 24/7,

912
00:54:51,160 --> 00:54:55,960
making 10 million Magnums
and 5 million Cornettos a week,

913
00:54:55,960 --> 00:54:58,000
as well as many other lines,

914
00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:03,000
producing over 1.4 billion pieces
of ice cream every year.

915
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:05,880
Not bad when you think
the core ingredient is milk.

916
00:55:20,960 --> 00:55:24,880
At the dairy factory distribution
hall, there is good news.

917
00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:27,440
Robots haven't taken over completely

918
00:55:27,440 --> 00:55:31,360
and dispatch manager Mark Burrows
is showing me why.

919
00:55:31,360 --> 00:55:34,960
If the customer is ordering anything
other than a full trolley,

920
00:55:34,960 --> 00:55:37,040
we then have to pick that by hand.

921
00:55:37,040 --> 00:55:39,320
So let's say there's a 100 in there.
Yes.

922
00:55:39,320 --> 00:55:42,320
If the supermarket orders 103,
we have to pick up three.

923
00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:44,520
We do, yeah.
Slip those over your ears.

924
00:55:46,320 --> 00:55:48,200
I might have spoken too soon.

925
00:55:48,200 --> 00:55:49,920
Put this round your waist.

926
00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:52,720
It looks like computers are
in control after all...

927
00:55:53,760 --> 00:55:55,200
'Talk now, say "ready".'

928
00:55:55,200 --> 00:55:56,760
..as they're giving the orders.

929
00:55:56,760 --> 00:55:58,720
Just give it the command "ready".

930
00:55:58,720 --> 00:56:02,080
Ready. 'Scan destination'

931
00:56:02,080 --> 00:56:04,360
Scan destination.

932
00:56:04,360 --> 00:56:07,080
So you need to scan the RFID tag.

933
00:56:08,640 --> 00:56:10,320
You'll hear it vibrate,

934
00:56:10,320 --> 00:56:13,560
so it knows exactly what
product's on that trolley now.

935
00:56:13,560 --> 00:56:17,840
'Material description -
Asda four pint semi.'

936
00:56:17,840 --> 00:56:21,200
Asda four pint semi. 'Pick 60.'

937
00:56:21,200 --> 00:56:24,280
Pick 60. Oh, crying out loud.

938
00:56:24,280 --> 00:56:26,480
Right, so I need 60 of those.

939
00:56:31,440 --> 00:56:33,720
This is hard work.

940
00:56:33,720 --> 00:56:35,440
After my brief training,

941
00:56:35,440 --> 00:56:39,640
I am responsible for getting
the Weston-Super-Mare order right.

942
00:56:39,640 --> 00:56:42,960
'Material description -
Cravendale two litres.'

943
00:56:42,960 --> 00:56:45,640
Cravendale two litre. Four.

944
00:56:47,200 --> 00:56:49,800
'Material description -
organic semi.'

945
00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:51,080
Ready.

946
00:56:53,080 --> 00:56:55,120
Two pints. 'Pick 20.'

947
00:56:55,120 --> 00:56:56,600
I'm stuck.

948
00:56:59,240 --> 00:57:03,720
The milk I've just collected needs
help to get to the loading bay.

949
00:57:03,720 --> 00:57:06,360
Juliet Echo Bravo.

950
00:57:06,360 --> 00:57:08,400
'Juliet Echo Bravo.'

951
00:57:10,520 --> 00:57:12,920
Is that our robot?
That's our robot, yeah.

952
00:57:14,720 --> 00:57:16,440
Off to Weston-Super-Mare.

953
00:57:16,440 --> 00:57:18,040
Off to Weston-Super-Mare.

954
00:57:20,040 --> 00:57:23,040
Somebody's going to get our
milk tomorrow morning.

955
00:57:25,400 --> 00:57:28,160
The milk I've just
hand-picked is about to be

956
00:57:28,160 --> 00:57:31,720
one of the 400 deliveries
made every day.

957
00:57:31,720 --> 00:57:35,360
This is the last stage, it's on
its way to Weston-Super-Mare.

958
00:57:35,360 --> 00:57:38,680
It's going to be on someone's
breakfast cereal tomorrow morning.

959
00:57:38,680 --> 00:57:40,160
Come on, boys.

960
00:57:42,200 --> 00:57:43,920
I have regularly walked into a shop

961
00:57:43,920 --> 00:57:46,680
and just grabbed a bottle of milk,
whether it be the corner shop or

962
00:57:46,680 --> 00:57:49,760
the supermarket, I've never thought
about where it comes from. I just

963
00:57:49,760 --> 00:57:53,160
take it for granted it's going to be
there and it's going to be safe.

964
00:57:53,160 --> 00:57:56,880
I've followed the milk now
all the way from the cow,

965
00:57:56,880 --> 00:57:59,520
all the way through
every single process,

966
00:57:59,520 --> 00:58:02,760
through all the testing,
the bottling, the unbelievable

967
00:58:02,760 --> 00:58:06,400
amount of people and technology
that goes in to making it

968
00:58:06,400 --> 00:58:11,880
possible for me and you to grab
a bottle of milk whenever we want.

969
00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:13,200
Incredible story.