Impact of Breeders’ Milking Practices on the Sanitary Quality of She-Camel Milk in Mauritania

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the relationships between milking practices and the sanitary quality of raw camel milk. It was conducted from May to August 2001 in Mauritania, in Trarza and Brakna areas along the Senegalese border. Improving the sanitary quality of milk is a commercial challenge since the Mauritanians consume a lot of local milk. In addition, the dairy plant “Laitière de Mauritanie” aims at producing long-life sterilized milk. A number of breeders who supplied milk to this dairy plant were surveyed and samples from their camel milk were collected for bacteriological analyses: aerobic mesophilic and coliform flora count, methylene blue reduction and resazurin tests, and Dornic acidity titration. Milk suppliers with the poorest milking practices had the worst results with regard to the sanitary quality of milk. On average, milk was little contaminated just after milking. Mean counts were 1.6 x 10⁶ aerobic mesophilic germs/ml and 3.5 x 10⁴ coliforms/ml. The sanitary quality of milk decreased significantly when the milk was carried from the production area to the collecting center in more than three and a half hours after milking. Results from Dornic acidity titration were not coherent with those from the other analyses. This study confirms the need to set up a farmer’s training program on milking hygiene to produce milk with organoleptic, nutritional and high sanitary quality.