Quality of Assessment Raw Cows’ Milk at Different Sampling Points Using Bacteriological Parameters and Other Techniques in Jimma Town, South Western Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was carried out from May 2014 to February 2015 to identify potential sources of raw cows’ milk contamination and assess its bacteriological quality, and investigate the bacteriological quality of fresh cows’ milk at different sampling points, in Jimma town. A total of 348 milk samples from udder, milking bucket, storage containers and vendors were randomly collected. To determine the bacterial load in raw milk samples, standard plate count test (SPC), coliform counts (CC), somatic cell counts (SCC), and california mastitis test (CMT) were conducted. The overall mean value of total bacterial counts (TBC) and coliform counts (CC) were 6.76log10 CFU/ml and 4.57 log10 CFU/ml respectively. The mean TBC were 5.87 ± 0.09 log10 CFU/ml, 6.14 ± 0.07 log10 CFU/ml, 7.39 ± 0.13 log10 CFU/ml, and 7.63 ± 0.06 log10 CFU/ml at udder, milking bucket, storage container and milk vendor levels respectively. The mean CC from udder, milking bucket, storage container and vendor were 3.14 ±0.09 log10 CFU/ml, 4.08 ± 0.07 log10 CFU/ml, 5.07 ± 0.23 log10 CFU/ml and 6.00 ± 0.21 log10 CFU/ml respectively. The difference in the mean TBC and CC at each sampling points were statistically significant (P=0.001). Among the investigated sampling points, the highest level of contamination in terms of TBC and CC was at vendor level. Factors that contributed to poor quality of milk were unhygienic milking procedures, lack of potable water, dirty milking environment and use of unclean milking and storage containers. According to international standards, TBC, CC and SCC have values above the upper limits set. The results of the current study indicated that the cow milk produced and distributed in the study area can generally be considered as substandard in quality. Therefore, it is important to put in place an improved hygienic practice at all levels in the dairy to improve the quality of cows’ milk.