Microbiological Safety Concerns of Raw Milk

Abstract

Milk is an ideal medium for the growth and multiplication of diverse microorganisms resulting in its early deterioration. Consumption of raw milk should be discouraged as numerous epidemiological outbreaks even death have been recorded. Microbiological quality of raw milk is resultant of various factors including health of the animal to handling and storage. Microbiological quality of pasteurized milk or other milk products is dependent on microbiological quality of raw milk therefore hygienic practices should be implemented at farm level for quality improvement. The various factors affecting the microbiological quality of raw milk and hygienic practices to be implemented at farm level for quality improvement have been highlighted. Poor microbiological quality of raw milk around the world is a resultant of various factors such as the health of the animal, extent of environmental contamination at the producing farm and storage conditions. Modification of payment policy, adoption of pre-milking hygienic practices, improvement in barn environment and better infrastructure/technical support have been suggested for improvement in the microbiological safety of raw milk. Adoption of pre-milking hygienic practices, improvement in barn environment and better infrastructure/technical may lead to an improvement in microbiological safety of raw milk.