Quality control of raw milk in the smallholder collection and bulking enterprises in Nakuru and Nyandarua Counties, Kenya

Abstract

Kenya has one of the largest dairy industries in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the milk marketed by smallscale farmers in Kenya has been reported to be of poor quality and does not meet national and international standards due to high bacterial load, high somatic cell count, adulteration and antibiotic residues. This study was designed to assess status of microbiological and physico-chemical quality of raw milk from two smallholder dairy farmer' groups at four sampling levels. Three hundred and eight raw milk samples were collected and analyzed along the value chain. Microbiological analysis for total bacterial count and coliform count was carried out using 3M TM Petrifilms plates. The average total bacterial and coliform counts Log 10 per ml at the processing factory was 8.462 and 6.770 for Ngorika and Olenguruone, respectively. The antibiotic residues especially βlactam was prevalent with 44.5% of all the analyzed samples being positive. Likewise, 60% of the samples had a range of 150,000 to 500,000 somatic cells/ml. Average water adulteration level for the two collecting and bulking enterprises was 30.3%. TVBC and CC should be used instead of resazurin while freezing point determination should be used for adulteration.

MILK Symposium review: Microbiological quality and safety of milk from farm to milk collection centers in Rwanda

“…The consequences of antibiotic residues in milk are severe; for example, antibiotic residues can prevent optimum growth of starter cultures during processing of dairy products, and β-lactam antibiotics, if present, can cause allergic reactions in some individuals (Dewdney et al, 1991;Griffiths, 2019). Our results showed a markedly lower prevalence of antibiotic residues in farm bulk milk than has been reported by others: 44.5% reported in Kenya (Teresiah et al, 2016) in a study that used a kit similar to the one used here; 30% in Zambia (Kunda et al, 2016), using the Copan milk test (Copan Italia spa, Brescia, Italy); and 36% reported in Tanzania (Kurwijila et al, 2006), using the Charm AIM-96 (Charm Sciences Inc., Lawrence, MA) antimicrobial inhibition assay.…”

Milking Hygiene and Handling Practices among Smallholder Dairy Farmers in Zanzibar

“…All farmers cooled milk using local methods, putting milk containers in cool water and very few had freezers. Our findings are also consistent with studies in Mali by [37] and in Kenya by [38], where most farmers, milk traders and bars held milk at ambient temperatures due to lack of cooling systems. Accordingly, milk cooling is not a common practice along the dairy chain, monitoring of milk safety and quality parameters is limited, particularly for pathogenic bacteria, indicating a risk for milk safety [9].…”

Recognition of Adulteration in Milk: A Review

“…These antibiotics by means of antimicrobial deposits are present in profusion with in milk [13]. Occasionally these mixtures are correspondingly added to rise the shelf life of milk products [14]. The common antimicrobial medications are tetracyclines, sulphonamides, and nitrofurans antimicrobial remainder [15] in addition to some beta-lactam drugs like penicillin-G, amoxicillin, cloxacillin, dicloxacillin, cefuroxime and cefoperazone [16].…”