Production, Handling, Traditional Processing Practices and Quality of Milk in Kembata Tembaro Zone Milk Shed Area, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted in Kembata Tembaro zone, kdida Gamela and kachabira woredas, of the southern Regional State with the objectives of: to assess the milk production systems, traditional milk handling and processing practices and determine the compositional and microbiological quality of milk produced at smallholder farmers' level. A single-visit-multiple-subject formal survey was used to collect data. A total of 150 households (75 from each woreda) were individually interviewed. All respondents reported that they wash hands and milk vessels before milking cows. However, the overall milking hygienic practice followed by the farmers in the area is poor. Ensira is the major container used for milking and storing dairy products in the study area. All the respondents (100%) in Kedida and 93.3 percent in kachebirra use Ensira for milking. With regard to churning, the majority of the respondents (98.7%) in Kedida use Ensira churn while 76.32 percent in Kachebirra use clay pot churn. Terminalia brownie and Acacia spp. are the most frequently used plant species for smoking milk vessels in the study area. The major constraints to milk production in the study area lack of milk collection centers/ lack of market, and poor quality milk products to be the major problems of the traditional milk processing practices. Only two dairy cooperatives were identified in kedida woreda; whereas there is no dairy cooperative in Kachebra woreda. lack of cooling facilities coupled with lack of electric power supply are the major constraints encountered at the dairy cooperatives. The overall mean fat, protein, total solids, ash and solids-not-fat (SNF) contents of local cows' milk produced in the study area were 4.71, 3.25, 13.47, 0.73 and 8.78 percent, respectively. Whereas, the overall mean fat, protein, total solids, ash and SNF contents of crossbred cows' milk were 4.14, 3.45, 13.15, 0.70 and 8.96 percent, respectively. The overall mean total bacterial count, coliform count and percent lactic acid of milk produced in the study area were 7.58±0.09 log10 cfu/ml, 4.49±0.11 log10 cfu/ml and 0.23%±0.01, respectively. The overall mean of the predicted probabilities of clot-on-boiling and alcohol tests were 0.23±0.12 and 0.51±0.11, respectively. the microbiological quality of milk produced by individual farmers and by the dairy cooperatives in the study area was poor and this call for scrupulous hygienic measures during production and handling of milk and milk products in the study area.