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Bacteriological quality and safety of ready-to-consume milk and naturally fermented milk in Borana pastoral area, southern Ethiopia

Tropical Animal Health and Production volume 51, pages 2079–2084 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Milk and milk products play an important role in the diet of pastoralists in Ethiopia. However, only few studies have been conducted on the microbial contamination of milk and milk products in pastoral areas. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to assess the hygiene and safety of ready-to-consume milk and traditionally produced fermented milk products (yogurt) in Borana. A total of 203 raw milk and milk product samples collected from different points along the milk production and handling chains were tested for Escherichia coli, E. coli O157:H7, and Staphylococcus aureus. E. coli was detected in 51.7% of the analyzed samples with a mean count of 2.5 logCFU/ml. The study revealed that 10.8% and 2.5% of the milk and dairy product samples harbor S. aureus and E. coli O157:H7, respectively. Detection of E. coli O157:H7 in ready-to-consume milk has potential health implications for consumers in an area where raw milk consumption is common. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the isolation of E. coli O157:H7 from milk in pastoral systems in Ethiopia.

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All the data pertaining to the manuscript can be obtained from the corresponding authors upon request.

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Acknowledgments

Sample collection and laboratory analysis were undertaken when Kebede Amenu and Shemsu Nemo were affiliated with Hawassa University and we thank the University for the provision of laboratory space for the microbiological analysis.

Funding

This study was initially supported through the CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on Livestock and Fish and since 2017 through CRP Livestock. Kebede Amenu was supported through DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Fellowship.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Veterinary Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, Addis Ababa University, P. O. Box 34, Bishoftu, Ethiopia

    Kebede Amenu

  2. International Livestock Research Institute, P. O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Kebede Amenu & Barbara Wieland

  3. International Livestock Research Institute, P. O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya

    Delia Grace

  4. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hawassa University, P. O. Box 5, Hawassa, Ethiopia

    Shemsu Nemo

Authors
  1. Kebede Amenu
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  2. Delia Grace
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  3. Shemsu Nemo
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  4. Barbara Wieland
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Contributions

KA: conceived the research idea, wrote the protocol, supervised lab works, performed data analysis and drafted the initial manuscript, and revised the manuscript

SN: involved in proposal write-up, microbiological analysis, and manuscript preparation

BW, DG: supervised the research and made substantial intellectual contribution in the designing of the study, preparation of the study protocols; result interpretation and manuscript preparation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kebede Amenu.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The research protocol for this study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture of Addis Ababa University for milk sample collection from individual animals.

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The authors declare that the manuscript does not contain any personally identifiable information.

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Amenu, K., Grace, D., Nemo, S. et al. Bacteriological quality and safety of ready-to-consume milk and naturally fermented milk in Borana pastoral area, southern Ethiopia. Trop Anim Health Prod 51, 2079–2084 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-019-01872-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-019-01872-8

Keywords

  • Escherichia coli O157:H7
  • Staphylococcus aureus
  • Milk contamination
  • Microbiological safety
  • Borana
  • Ethiopia