Influence of milking good hygiene practices in the microbiological quality of refrigerated raw milk

Abstract

The refrigerated raw milk produced by Brazilian small producers generally shows low microbiological quality. The aim of the present study was to verify the impact of the milking good hygiene practices implementation on the microbiological quality of refrigerated raw milk produced in small farms in the North of Paraná, Brazil. 92 farms were selected, where milk samples were taken before and after the milking good hygiene practices training, known as “LIPOA”. Somatic Cell Count (SCC) and Total Bacterial Count (TBC) analysis were performed by flow cytometry. It was found that 49 (53.3%) farms havefully or partially implemented the good practices. For the total 92 farms, the TBC average went from 3.0 x 10⁶CFU/ml before the training to 1.5 x 10⁶ CFU/ml after the training. The SCC average for these farms remained at 2.2 x 10⁵ cells/ml after training. Considering only those farms that have incorporated the good practices in milking routine, the TBC average significantly reduced from 3.8 x 10⁶ to 1.8 x 10⁵ CFU/ml. The SCC average was of 2.2 x 10⁵ that decreased to 1.7 x 10⁵ cells/ml after training, a non significant reduction. After the adoption of milking good practices only 3 (6.1%) of the 49 farms continued with bacterial counts higher than the pattern of 7.5 x 10⁵ CFU/ml stipulated by the legislation in the analyses occasion. The number of farms with TBC equal or lower than 10⁵ CFU/ml, that is the international milk quality pattern, increased from 13 (26.5%) to 31 (63.3%) after the good practices training. The milking good hygiene practices implementation can be the only way for small producers to reach the quality patterns determined by the legislation