SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE BY Dr.J.ROOPAVATHY

2. Although India has emerged as the largest producer of milk, its
contribution to the world dairy trade is negligible
One of the major factors for low export of our dairy products has
been the quality and safety aspects of milk and milk products
Consumers all over the world have become quality conscious and
prefer high quality products
Due to liberalization and globalization of world economy,
abundant opportunities are emerging for India to take its due place in the
world dairy market
Since the international market has become demanding in term of quality,
safety and delivery of dairy products, one has to start with raw milk
received at the dairy plant
The adoption of clean milk production practices at the producer
level coupled with Good Manufacturing Practices and Hazard Analysis of
Critical Control Point at plant level would provide competition edge to milk
and milk supplies in the international market

3.  At present the quality of raw milk is of major concern
 It has been observed that while the raw milk at the
cow/ buffalo udder level in India compares well with
that of any developed countries
 It is the manner in which milk is handled subsequent
to milking which affects the quality of raw milk
reaching the dairy dock or at chilling center

4. The microbial counts in raw milk may usually vary from
less than one thousand to more than one million per ml
The total microbial load may be estimated by standard
plate count or by conducting methylene blue reduction test
Based on the results of these tests, raw milk can be graded
for its microbiological quality
The Bureau of Indian Standards has laid down such
standards for grading raw milk
In general the microbial quality of milk in our country is
quite poor
The higher microbial load in the milk also creates other
implications such as higher acidity, higher pasteurization
temperature, protein denaturation and presence of toxins in the
milk

5. Overall, this study showed that bacteriological quality of
raw milk at various stages of collection was far from satisfactory.
The high counts in raw milk samples indicated unhygienic
production and handling at farm and during transportation under
Indian condition
Hence the need for massive movement for Clean Milk
production has been felt and a multipronged approach has been
adopted by the dairies
This includes awareness campaign, training, focus on clean
hands, teat dip after milking, use of clean SS vessels for milk
handling, installation of insectocutors at the collection center, SS
304 cans in place of aluminum cans, bulk cooling of milk at
Society level and transport by SS – 304 cans road milk tankers etc.

6. In view of the immense dietary importance of milk,
the need to produce safe, clean and wholesome milk is of
profound significance
Clean milk does not mean milk in which all visible
dirt is absent or milk from which it has been removed, rather
it denotes ‘raw milk from healthy animal, that has been
produced and handled under hygienic condition, that
contains only small number of harmless bacteria and that
possesses a good keeping quality without being heat treated ‘
There is a strong correlation between the quality of
raw milk and finished products

7. Considering the bacteriological quality of raw milk reaching the
dairy plants presently there exists scope for improvement.
The two principles that universally guide the quality of raw
milk are:
a) avoiding or minimizing contamination at various stages of
handling raw milk and
b) reducing the growth and activity of microorganisms in raw
milk
Knowledge of the posible unhygienic practices that lead to
the gross contamination of milk will be useful in realizing the
gravity of the situation and in evolving improved strategies
The possible undesirable practices that are prevalent may
broadly be classified into following categories:

8. a)Practices related to milch animal:
Unhealthy animal, unclean body and udder
b)Practices related to milking process:
Unhealthy milker, unclean hands and cloths,
unhygienic personal habits, incomplete milking, wrong milking
procedures, unclean vessels for milk collection
c)Practices related to environment : poor housing and feeding of
the animal, unhygienic surroundings
d)Post – milking practices: Chilling and prompt transport of milk
e)Contaminants in milk

9. The milch animal is the starting point in the production of clean, low count milk
The udder is not an important source of bacteria in milk unless pathological condition
exists
Normally milk contains few bacteria at the time it is drawn
The milch animals should be kept in good health
This calls for prevention through vaccination and timely treatment against sporadic
diseases
The animals should be screened for TB and mastitis at frequent intervals since these
diseases are harmful to public health
Any animal with physical disability such as inflamed or defective udders or teats or
enlarged glands should be isolated and her milk not mixed with regular produce

10. Clean milk can not be produced from dirty
animals
If the flanks, belly, udder, teats and
tail of the animal are soiled with manure, earth,
bedding or loose hair, considerable extraneous
materials may fall into the pail
Before each milking, the cows
should be groomed to remove the loose hairs,
dandruff, dust, manure, soil or other
accumulations from their bodies
The grooming should be completed
at least half an a hour before milking in order
that an excessive quantity of dust will not be in
the stable air
In addition, udders and teats should
be washed with a wet cloth and dried with
another cloth that has been rinsed in and wrung
from clean water
If udder and teats are not dried,
dirty water may fall from them into the milk pail
and moisture may cause the teats to become
chapped and cracked during winter.
The clipping of the flanks, udder,
belly and tail facilitates washing and grooming

11. The milker should be healthy
with clean habits
Unhealthy milker may directly
transmit disease – producing
microbes to the milk through
sneezing, coughing etc.
Unclean hands and cloths
of the milker may also be a
potential source of contamination
Unhygienic personal
habits, sneezing, coughing, etc by
milker are also undesirable
The milker has to follow
hygienic practices from beginning
to the end

12. He should be in good health not
suffering from any disease like TB or flu
He should wear clean clothes
and cover his head at the time of milking
His fingernails should be
trimmed so as not to cause any injury to
the teats
He should ensure that his sweat
drops do not enter the milk
Similarly, he should wash his
hands before commencing his work
The milker should not smoke
during milking

13.  The milker should practice dry milking
 The usual tendency is to dip the fingertips
in milk or apply oil which is really not
necessary and allows dirt to enter milk
 The animal should be milked completely
 At the end of milking the teats should be
dipped in disinfectant solution
 Which also helps in closure or teat
sphincters thereby reducing the entry or
mastitis germs.
 It should be ensured that the animals
having any disease are milked last, and
most importantly their milk should be
disposed of separately.
 Similarly, the milk from the animals
receiving antibiotic a treatment should be
handled separately for a period of 72 hours
after stoppage of treatment

14.  Machine milking is very
common in Western countries
 It has been found that milk
drawn with the help of
machines may be as low in
bacterial content as that
produced with the most
scrupulous care in hand
milking provided that proper
methods of cleaning,
sterilization and operation are
carried out
 However, if the parts of
milking machines are not
properly washed and
sterilized, it may increase the
bacterial content.

15.  One common objection to milking
machines has been the belief that
the udders of the animals were
injured and that milk production
decreased
 In recent years numerous workers
have reported that the modern
types of milking machines,
properly operated, have no such ill
effects
 Special precaution should be taken
in cleaning of the milking machine
should be rinsed before the milk
solids get dried onto them and
become difficult to remove

16.  Most of the dirt or sediment that enters milk drops from the body of the
animals during the milking process
 The use of small – topped milk pail will keep out at least 50% of such dirt
 The vessels used for drawing milk should be properly cleaned and
sanitized
 The use of properly sanitized utensils is the most important single factor
in producing milk with a low bacterial content
 The delayed washing of utensils results in a larger bacterial count than the
utensils washed immediately
 The milk utensils should be made of a non – rusting and non – absorbent
material such as aluminum or galvanized iron
 Stainless steel would be ideal, but for the cost considerations
 The utensils should be free from dents, cracks and crevices

17.  The utensils should be rinsed with tap or lukewarm
water immediately after milking and then brushed
thoroughly on all surfaces with washing solution
heated to a temperature between 40 -50° C
 Finally, they should be rinsed with clean water and
then sterilized
 The “sterilization” of dairy equipment usually refers to
the destruction, either by heat or by chemicals, of
bacteria in vegetable or spore forms remaining on the
equipment after washing

18.  The place where housing, feeding and milking of
the animals are done need special care in order to
minimize contamination of milk
 The sanitary construction, location and
arrangement of dairy – farm buildings are
necessary for low count milk production. The
animal shed should be at a well elevated place
with good drainage
 It should be properly ventilated with windows
admitting daylight
 The shed should be fitted with fly – proof wire
mesh wherever possible
 Floors and gutters should have adequate slope for
easy drainage and removal of dung

19.  The animal shed should be properly illuminated
 It is equally important to clean the shed from time to time
 It is recommended to clean the animal shed at least 30
minutes ahead of actual milking so that the flying dust is
allowed to settle on the ground which prevents its entry in
milk pail
 Brooming the cattle shed and removal of dung from time
to time will control the flies which are a major menace
and source of infection
 Similarly, the feed materials having off – flavours should be
kept away from the milking area since these flavours are
known to enter milk

20.  The feed given to the animal should be of good quality
and free from mould or decomposed materials
 Mouldy hay or grains, decomposed silage or feeds badly
fermented are undesirable in market milk production
 Feed that are old, stale, infested and vegables like
cabbage, turnip, onions, garlic are bound to cause off
flavours
 Therefore, these should be stored away and not be given
to milch animals within a couple of hours of milking

21.  One major cause of concern emerged recently pertains to
entry of insecticides and pesticides into milk via mainly
feed materials
 This is happening through injudicious use of these
poisonous formulations as crop protection measures
 Often, these chemicals are used beyond their
recommended dosages
 The farmers have to be careful while spaying chemicals
like malathion and it should be noted that there is a
complete ban on the manufacture and use of DDT and
BHC
 Since these chemicals find their way in oilds and fats in the
crops it is better to use de-oiled ingredients in animal feed
which will eliminate the risk or pesticide contamination of
milk

22. Ordinarily, noticeable quantities of foreign materials, such as
particles of dust, dirt, feed, bedding, manure, hair, flies, and many
other undesirable substances may find their way into milk because of
careless handling of milk at the dairy farm
Many of these foreign substances carry large number of bacteria
yeasts and moulds
To remove these foreign matters straining is practiced
This training is accomplished at the dairy farm by means of
miscellaneous pieces of cloth, cotton batting, wire gauge cellulose
pads or specially prepared strainer pads
These materials are able to remove principally the large particles.

23.  In order to carry the cleansing of milk a step further, various devices
have been suggested for filtering milk through filter possessing pores
much smaller than the ordinary strainers, cloth or metal
 Milk filtering devices which are provided with closely woven cotton
cloths or cellulose pads are available
 The mesh or these filters is very fine and provides a much more
efficient filtering capacity
 It is intended that these filter pad should be used but once and then
discarded, since their efficiency is impaired or destroyed by washing
 They are effective in removing visible sediments from milk but do
not filter out leucocytes, epithelial cells, cell fragments or
microorganism unless these are trapped on the larger particles which
make up the visible sediment
 The most effective method or removing foreign matters from the
milk is clarification. It works on the principle of cream separator

24.  Healthy and clean animals, clean and Sanitized utensil, hygienic
milking environment are necessary to produce milk of low
bacterial content
 The bacteriological quality of raw milk in India at the time of
milking is comparable with that in leading milk exporting
countries (including EU, Australia and New Zealand).
 However, there is significant deterioration in milk quality from
farm to factory
1) Infrastructure issues: Lack of all – weather roads,
electrical supply for chilling centers, potable water supply and
sewage disposal etc.,
2)Contamination through equipment, loss of time and lack
of temperature controlled storage / transportation

25.  The time lag coupled with transportation at ambient
temperature results in deterioration of quality in terms of
sensory properties (odour, taste, colour), Composition
(Fat, SNF, Protein etc)Hygiene (bacteriological pathogenic
- spoilage, somatic cells) and also leads to adulteration
(Water, foreign substances)
 An increase in temperature prior to pasteurization can
lead to an exponential increase in bacterial count in milk.
 Hence, Transportation and storage in controlled
temperature conditions is critical to preserve the quality of
milk
 However, cooling does not replace the need for hygienic
milking conditions.

26.  The solution to these issues lies in identify and addressing handling,
storage and transportation practices from the producer to the dairy
plant and onward to the consumer, and facilitating improvement of
hygiene, sanitation and food safety and operating efficiency in dairy
plants
 The plans include
1) Increasing awareness about the importance of good quality milk among
farmer
2) Training of farmers on hygienic habits at farm level and collection
centers
3) Giving incentive to farmers through higher remuneration for quality
milk
4) Setting up quality testing infrastructure at the collection center. This
involves testing of bacterial count, acidity, smell/ taste, somatic cell count etc

27. Installation of bulk coolers for efficient collection is critical to
preserving and improving the quality of milk
Benefits of bulk cooling include:
 Longer collecting intervals (Milk can be collected once a day
instead of the current practice of twice a day) which reduces the
cost of transportation
 Flexibility in milk delivery and pick up time
 Handling of cans are eliminated
 Increased potential for collection from producer in remote
locations
 Maintenance of good hygienic conditions

28. The Government should give incentives to dairies to
invest in clean milk production and bulk cooling
The incentives could be in the form of reimbursing a
part of the cost of equipment for collection and testing
The government can develop a quality mark for milk
on the lines of Agmark, which should include every
important trait of milk quality, Like
 Hygienic quality: bacteriological and
cytological traits, absence of pathogens and
other contaminants
 Sensory quality
 Nutritional quality
 Technological quality

29. The prompt chilling of milk is necessary in controlling the growth
of organisms present in milk at the time it is drawn from the udder
The milk then should e stored in protected environment until is
delivered to the milk plant or receiving station
Even low count milk must be held below 10°C, if it is to be stored
for a day or two.
At 5°C, Practically no growth occurs, until after 48 hours,
thereafter, the reproduction of Bactria is very slow
In places where milk is stored in cans before transportation, bulk
can coolers are the best options
Some of the other cooling options practiced may be air cooling,
water cooling, ice cooling and mechanical cooling
The cooling aids usually used are household refrigeration, direct
expansion surface cooler expansion bulk tank, ice bank and chilled water

30.  The basic system of milk transport of milk from the farm to the
collection center (in small vessels or can), from the collection
center to the chilling center (in can or small tankers) and from
the chilling center to the processing plant (in insulated road
tanker)
 The quality of milk will deteriorate during transit if it is not
properly chilled
 The milk should be held for a minimum time at ambient
temperature
 In general, the transport of uncooled milk can be justified
only if great care has been taken in its production and if the
milk is processed or chilled to a low temperature not more than 3
hours after its production

31. Reference