Survey of Italian human milk banks.
BACKGROUND
At present, the Italian Association of Donor Human Milk Banks (Associazione Italiana Banche del Latte Umano Donato, AIBLUD) consists of 31 milk banks, whose management is based on Italian Guidelines. In 2013, AIBLUD performed a systematic survey to collect data on the activities of banks operating in Italy in the years previous to this date.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this survey was to evaluate the operational procedures of Italian Human Milk Banks in order to identify both areas of strength and room for improvement.


METHODS
A questionnaire was utilized to obtain national data from the 28 banks active in the year 2012 in order to evaluate the number of donors, volume of human milk collected, and other information relating to the period 2007 to 2012.


RESULTS
In all, 89% of the banks (25/28) responded to the survey. Data received primarily concerned the number of donors, volume of milk collected, and average amount of milk from each donor in the period 2007 to 2012. It was evident that in 2012 human milk banks collected a higher volume of milk than in 2007. Further, the average amount of milk from each donor was higher. Most of the milk banks were following the Italian Guidelines for traceability, control of donors, bacteriological checks, method of pasteurization, storage, thawing, type of containers, and utilization of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points system.


CONCLUSIONS
This survey identified both areas of strength and room for improvement in the Italian human milk banks.
Board of Directors, AIBLUD (Italian Association of Donor Human Milk Banks), Milan, Italy.
Giuseppe
G
De Nisi
Board of Directors, AIBLUD (Italian Association of Donor Human Milk Banks), Milan, Italy guidoemoro@tiscali.it.
Guido E
GE
Moro
Board of Directors, AIBLUD (Italian Association of Donor Human Milk Banks), Milan, Italy Department of Neonatology, Dr Behcet Uz Children's Hospital, Izmir, Turkey.
Sertac
S
Arslanoglu
Board of Directors, AIBLUD (Italian Association of Donor Human Milk Banks), Milan, Italy.
Amalia M
AM
Ambruzzi
Board of Directors, AIBLUD (Italian Association of Donor Human Milk Banks), Milan, Italy Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Units, Bufalini Hospital, Cesena, Italy.
Augusto
A
Biasini
Board of Directors, AIBLUD (Italian Association of Donor Human Milk Banks), Milan, Italy Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, A. Meyer Children's Hospital, Florence, Italy.
Claudio
C
Profeti
Board of Directors, AIBLUD (Italian Association of Donor Human Milk Banks), Milan, Italy Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Paola
P
Tonetto
Board of Directors, AIBLUD (Italian Association of Donor Human Milk Banks), Milan, Italy Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Enrico
E
Bertino
D019985:Benchmarking; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D000068101:Maternal-Child Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D017784:Milk Banks / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
breastfeeding; donor human milk; human milk bank; survey