Microbiological Quality and Safety Assessment of the Rwandan Milk and Dairy Chain

Abstract

Milk is a valuable and nutritious food product that can partially fulfill the rising food demand of the growing African population. The microbiological status of milk and derived products was assessed throughout the milk and dairy chain in Rwanda by enumeration of the total mesophilic count, coliforms, and Staphylococcus aureus and detection of Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes. The quality of raw milk was satisfactory for the majority of samples, but 5.2% contained Salmonella. At the processing level, the total mesophilic count and coliform numbers indicated ineffective heat treatment during pasteurization or postpasteurization contamination. Increasing bacterial counts were observed along the retail chain and could be attributed to insufficient temperature control during storage. Milk and dairy products sold in milk shops were of poor and variable microbiological quality in comparison with the pasteurized milk sold in supermarkets. In particular, the microbiological load and pathogen prevalence in cheese were unacceptably high.

A survey on hygienic practices and their impact on the microbiological quality and safety in the Rwandan milk and dairy chain

“…A full detailed description of the dairy chain in Rwanda is described in Kamana et al . (). Farmers can be divided into three categories: open grazing, semigrazing and zero grazing farming systems (SNV, ).…”

“…() in Mali, and at consumer level by Kamana et al . () in Rwanda. These papers report on lack of good hygienic practices implementation causing postprocessing contamination problems with African dairy products.…”

Occurrence, heat and antibiotic resistance profile of Bacillus cereus isolated from raw cow and processed milk in Mezam Division, Cameroon

“…; Kamana et al . ) have reported lower and satisfactory bacterial levels in raw milk. Similar to our findings, Mhone et al .…”

Identification and Characterization of a Bacteriocin-Like Substance, Produced by <i>Leuconostoc mesenteroides</i>, as a Bio-Preservative Against <i>Listeria monocytogenes</i>

“…Adverse health effects due to consumption milk contaminated with L. monocytogenes have been reported in decades [5][6][7]. In addition, several opportunistic bacteria have been detected in the milk seems to vary prevalence of illnesses associated with milk and dairy products [3], [8].…”