One of NMB's main goals is to ensure the safety and quality of its processed milk. In order to achieve this, NMB has developed specific standards and measures that all member milk banks must abide by in order to accept donations. To date, NMB is the only milk bank that implements and enforces all of the following points for certification:

• A state-of-the-art donor tracking system (also employed by national blood bank networks)
  
  
• Most recent generation of donor screening tests for significant viruses such as HIV 1 and 2, HTLV 1, and hepatitis B and C
  
  
• DNA fingerprinting to ensure that donated milk belongs to the screened donor
  
  
• All donors must be recommended by their Physician and infants Pediatrician as safe to donate
  
  
• Donated milk must be stored in a pharmacy grade freezer reaching -20° or below
  
  
• Use of validated cold chain delivery system and data logging technology to ensure the milk remained within temperature guidelines during transit
  
  
• Certified milk banks must only provide collected milk to a processing facility which adheres to the following criteria and must not process milk on site:
  
  
  • Use of Polymerase Chain Reaction testing for infectious diseases (and if needed, Western blot testing) on milk pools both pre and post-pasteurization.
    
  • Use of high temperature, short time pasteurization process that has been validated under the strictest regulatory guidelines, and has been shown to destroy all lipid-enveloped (e.g. HIV, hepatitis B and C) seeded viruses in the validation experiments, as well as a significant amount of hepatitis A (a non-lipid-enveloped virus) that is not routinely affected by Holder pasteurization. In addition, most of the important biological activity of the milk is retained.
    
  • Formulation of the milk to a well-defined caloric content with known (and nutritionally labeled) amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, as well as vitamins and minerals.
    
  • Easy-to-dispense 10 mL syringes that are ideal for the feeding of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.
    
  • Formal experiments conducted under strict regulatory conditions that demonstrate a meaningful shelf-life that can be relied for the adequacy of the milk under frozen conditions.
    
  • Formal experiments that demonstrate the robustness of the milk in the cold-chain delivery system.
  • Support of important research to understand the viability of the milk under different circumstances (e.g. storage pre-pasteurization and collection after long intervals post-partum).