Microbiological Characteristics of Raw Cow Milk in Beni Mellal Area (Morocco)

Abstract

Although a great effort has been made in Morocco concerning the produced quantity of raw cow milk, its quality does not meet acceptable quality standards. Theobjective of this study was to evaluate the global milk quality in Moroccan dairy herds (hygienic and pathogenic parameters) and the perspectives on dairy development. For this, we evaluated the variations in the overall quality of raw milk: bacteriological and hygienic characterizations. Thus, samples of raw cow's milk produced in 10-12 farms were selected from different areas in Beni Mellal region. The investigation has concerned different cattle farms with different breeding procedures. Thus, microbiological characterization was evaluated in the samples analyzed for their standard plat count, total coliform and fecal coliform, yeast loads (L), molds (M) and some of pathogenic bacteria (staphylococcus, salmonella, listeria and clostridium). In general, the samples analyzed show a moderate to critical contamination of raw milk during different seasons in all microbial species analyzed, notably for fecal and total coliforms and total mesophilic aerobic flora (TMAF). As the microbiological quality of milk is critical to the health, organoleptic and technological qualities of milk, we assayed pathogenic bacteria and found a positivity only for staphylococcus aureus which exceeds the accepted limit. The most contaminated farms were those located essentially in the irrigated zones. The less contaminated ones belong to modern's farms. It seems that transportation, milking and pre-storage conditions as well as climate constitute the main basic relevant factors for heavy bacterial contamination Taken together these variations reflect essentially differences in practical breeding. When the period effect is investigated, differences between hot periods and cold-warm periods are present for the parameters mentioned above. These results indicate the non-respect of good hygiene practices as well as breeding practices.

Evalution of the Microbiological Quality of Moroccan Cow Raw Milk in Dairy Herds Located in the Beni Mellal Region

“…This could be associated to non-compliance with hygienic conditions and rules during production and milking as well as lack of refrigeration during milk storage and transportation to the processing industrial unit [22]. Our findings remain generally equivalent to findings recently reported by Ferdous et al [14][15] in proximal areas to Beni Mellal city (Fecal Coliforms: 10 4 to 10 5 ; Total Coliforms: 7.3 x 10 4 to 6.49 x 10 5 and Total Aerobic Flora:10 5 to 5 x 10 6 UFC/ml). In Beni Mellal region ( [14][15], but contrast with these results showing marked variations in the microbial charge when season is taken into account.…”

“…The plain parts are well developed and the agriculture is generally based on irrigation methods and many farms have developed their activities inside them. In some parts the community is more agropastoralist and there is large milk production from cows and goats [14][15].…”

“…The detection of Listeria monocytogenes was performed by using broth Frazer (24h at 37°C) while the confirmation of suspect colonies was performed by the use of chromogenic medium with the API Listeria. Concerning the estimation of Staphylococcus aureus, the incubation of diluted milk samples was made in Baird Parker media at 37°C during 48h [14][15]. Finally, the Sulphite-reducing Clostridia are counted on the Reiforced Clostridium Agar culture medium in tubes to favor the anaerobic conditions, with a heat treatment for 10 min at 80°C to activate the spores of Clostridia: they can persist in latent form in the milk, sprout as soon as conditions are favorable and secrete toxic substances.…”

“…However, this challenge concerning the quantity of milk to produce poses the problem of the quality of the raw milk produced. Thus, if the produced quantities of milk are today in general satisfactory because of the great efforts made by Morocco in this context (encouraging milk production principally cow milk), various problems associated with quality standards, which are very hard to meet [1,[9][10][11][12][13], still exist constituting a challenge for the agro-alimentary sector especially dairy industry in the county [14][15]. This concerns principally hygienic quality of the milk which could be altered by the presence of high levels of microorganisms (bacteria and at lesser degree molds).…”

“…This concerns principally hygienic quality of the milk which could be altered by the presence of high levels of microorganisms (bacteria and at lesser degree molds). The analysis of the pathogenic flora in raw milk constitutes an important tool to evaluate this quality [14][15]. The main objectives of the present study were to evaluate the microbiological quality of raw cow milk produced in Beni Mellal region, one of the major milk production areas in Morocco located in the North-Centre of Morocco to evaluate the characteristics of the raw milk produced and also to evaluate hygienic conditions effects and breeding factors on milk microbiological aspects.…”