Sources of bacterial contamination of raw

milk and method of

control

- Dr. Shekhar Pokhrel

• The sources of contamination of milk on the
farm can broadly be categorised as
– Interior of the udder
– Exterior of the udder

• The interior reflects the health of the animal,

while the exterior depends on the farm
condition, equipments, persons, water etc.
 A. Interior Of The Udder
• Micro organisms enter the udder through duct at the
teat tip.
• The duct varies in length from 5-14 mm and its surface is
heavily keratinized. This keratin layer retains milk
residues and exhibit antimicrobial activity
• During progress of a milking, bacteria are present in the
largest number at the beginning and gradually decrease.
• This is mainly due to mechanical dislodging of bacteria,
particularly in teat canal where the number are probably
highest.
• Discarding the first few streams of milk results in lower
counts of microbes in milk
• Species of bacteria found in milk as it comes
from udder are very limited.
– Micrococci 30-99%
– Streptococci 0-50%
– Asporogenous Gm +ve rods <10%
– Gm -ve rods <10%
– Bacillus spores <10%
– Miscellaneous <10%
• Most of the bacteria are excreted in fore milk.
When the animal is suffering from some
disease, the causative organisms are also likely
to come into milk depending upon the severity
of infection.
• The most common disease in milch animal is
mastitis and the primary causative organism;
Streptococcus agalactiaeis
– commonly present (even though no clinical
evidence of mastitis is present in the cows.)
– normal inhabitant of the udder
• The other common mastitis causing organisms
potentially harmful to humans are Staphylococcus
aureus and Escherichia coli, occasionally
Streptococcus uberis, Streptococcus dysgalactiae.
• Some of the other organisms encountered
occasionally are
Mycobacterium tuberculosis,
Brucella abortus
Listeria sps, Clostridium perfringens,
Leptospirasp, Actinomycetes,
Bacillus cereus, Coxiella burnetti
Pasteurella multocida Yeast(Cryptococcus neoformans)
 Control
• Animals should be maintained in clean dry
environment free from dust and dirt.
• Milk from the first few strippings should be
discarded.
• Milk from the infected udder should be
discarded.
• Dairy animals should be periodically
vaccinated against susceptible diseases
 B. Exterior Of The Udder
• Number and type of organisms associated with udder vary
depending on type of soil. Udder and teat become soiled
with dung, mud, bedding material such as saw dust, straw
etc.With heavily soiled udder teats the counts may be 1
lakh /ml
• Bedding material in winter has high number of bacteria.
Main organisms in order of maximum numbers are
psychrotrophs, coliforms, Bacillus sp. In summer cows
turned to pasture, the number of bacteria in bedding
declines.
• Udder micro flora is not affected very much by washing.
Sodium hypochlorite washing and accompanied by drying
help in reducing in number
1.Teat surface and Animal body
2. Milking barn and the environment
3. Milking utensils
4. Milker
5. Water supply
6. Milk machine
7. Storage and transport
 1.Teat Surface And Animal Body
A. Teat surface
• Predominantly Micrococci and Staphylococci
• faecal Streptococci.
• Bacillus sp.
• Clostridia spores

Prevention
• Prevent regular soiling of teat surface
• Wash teat with disinfectant (chlorine, QAC, Soaps)
• Drying of teats with clean clothes or paper towels
before milking.
 B. Coat of the cow
• Coat serves as vehicle to contribute bacteria directly
to milk.
• Coat may indirectly contribute organisms into air of
the barn, especially Bacillus sp.
• Coliforms may gain from soil & manure

Prevention
• Periodic clipping of hair
• Regular brushing of coat.
• Machine milking
2. Milking barn and the environment
• The house keeping practices in the milk
producing area also decide the level of
contamination.

• The accumulation of mud, animal urine and

faeces, the left out straw and feed in the
milking barn can directly or indirectly
contaminate milk.
 Practices that increase aerial counts of bacteria

• Sweeping a short time before milking

• Handling hay and feed just before milking
• Brushing animals just before milking
• Having dusty bedding material
• Allowing dust and dirt to accumulate on wall and
ceiling .
 Prevention

• The environment in the milking barn

should be clean.

• The aerial contamination can be prevented

by the use of small top milk pails and
milking machine
 3. Milking utensils
• The improperly cleaned ‘milk contact surfaces’ of
milking equipment including bucket, pail, cans,
bulk tanks etc. are the only source of
contamination in milk after it leaves the udder.
• The most hazardous situation arises when the
milking utensils are not thoroughly cleaned after
use and the milk solids with some moisture are
left on the surfaces.
• These allow growth of microorganisms and
heavily contaminate the fresh milk, which comes
in contact with these utensils.
• When mastitis is prevalent in the herd, the utensils may
contain Streptococcus agalactiae, Staphyloccus aureus,
E. coli or Corynebacterium sp.
• When hot cleaning of equipment is done, the
predominating organisms are thermoduric, mainly
Bacillus sp. andMicrococcus.

Control
• The milking utensils and equipments should be cleaned
and sanitized before and after milking.
• The tanks used for bulk transport of milk should be
cleaned and sanitized immediately after the unloading
of milk
 4. Milker
• Milker with infected wounds on hands contribute
pathogenic Streptococcus & Micrococcus
• Activities like sneezing, coughing etc. increase the risk of
contamination.
• During the wet hand milking lubricant enters milk and
adds bacteria from hands and teats.
• Pathogens causing typhoid, paratyphoid, dysentery,
scarlet fever, septic sore throat. Diphtheria, cholera etc
are contributed from humans.
• Action of milker may dislodge dust and dirt and increase
air contamination
Control
• The hands of the milker should be clean and
he/she may dip hands in antiseptic solution
before milking.
• Unhealthy milkmen should be avoided.
• Bad habits like coughing and sneezing should be
prevented within the milking barn.
 5. Water supply
• Storage tanks, not protected from rodents, birds,
insects and dust.
• Hoses
• Water troughs
• Untreated water supplies from bore wells, lakes
and rivers may be contaminated at source with
faecal Streptococci, Coliforms, Gm -ve rods,
Lactic acid bacteria, Bacillus sp., and
Corynebacterium sp.
Control

• Water used for cleaning should be free from

faecal contamination and water may be
chlorinated before use
• Chlorination with hypochlorites is recommended
 6. Milking machine

• Milking machines are used when large numbers

of animals are to be milked at a time.

• When they are used, proper care is required not

only in its cleaning but also in its use, because its
improper use may damage the udder and
thereby increase risk of infection.
• When pipelines are reused for direct milk
collection, their improper cleaning and
sanitation add further to the microbial load of
milk.
• The types of microorganism coming from milking
machine are similar to those coming from other
equipments.

Control
• Milking machine should be cleaned and sanitised
by using iodine sanitizers as a routine practice
 7. Storage and transport

• Mainly the psychrotropic and thermoduric

bacteria contaminate the milk through unclean
milk cans and bulk milk transport tankers.

• Among the psychrotropic genera in stored milk,

Pseudomonas sp. (Mainly Pseudomonas
flourescens )
Moreover, the type of contaminating microflora
depends on the temperature of storage as follows

0-50C: Pseudomonas fluorescens.

 
5-10 0C: Pseudomonas sp., Proteus vulgaris, Micrococcus sp.,
Alcaligenesvisco lactis, A .marshallii.
 
10-150C: S. agalactiae, Lactococcus lactis subsp.cremoris,
S.durans,S.dysgalactiae,S.faecalis, Lactococcus lactis
subsp.lactis, S. uberis.
 
15-300C: All streptococci specially Lactococcusl actis subsp.
lactis.
 
30-400C: Enterobacter aerogenes, E. coli. and lactic
acid bacteria , Lactobacillus brevis, L. bulgaricus,
L.casei, L. fermenti, L.helveticus,L.lactis,
L.plantarum, and a few Streptococcii.

40-500C: lactic acid forming rods L. bulgaricus,

L.fermenti, L.helveticus ,L.lactis, L.plantarum,
L.caucaicus, L.thermophilus and thermophilic
streptococci like S.faecalis and S.thermophilus.
Control
• Milk should be stored and transported
between the temperatures of 0-5 °C