Analysis of the Clean Milk Production Practices of Dairy Farmers of Kerala

Clean Milk Production (CMP) is very important in dairy farming. Several hygienic measures should be practiced for production of clean milk. CMP practices of dairy farmers of a selected gram panchayat of Palakkad district of Kerala state were analyzed in terms of knowledge and adoption regarding the practices using a semistructured interview schedule developed for the purpose. The data were analysed using frequency and percentage. On analysis, it was revealed that more than half of the respondents (77%) had medium knowledge of CMP practices and the rest were in the low category (23%). None were in the high category for knowledge of CMP practices. For adoption of CMP practices, majority of the respondents were in the low category (60%), followed by medium (33%) and high categories (1%). Introduction India has emerged as the highest milk producing country in the world (Sah et al, 2002) with an annual production of more than 81million tones. With the introduction of GATT and WTA, marketing of milk to any foreign country has become a reality. Milk is a highly perishable commodity. Contaminated milk deteriorates quickly and produces diseases if consumed. Therefore extreme care has to be taken in production, storage and transport of milk. Clean milk does not mean making the milk free from extraneous matters by passing it through sieve or muslin cloth. It actually means the raw milk that has been produced in the udder of healthy dairy animals, handled under hygienic conditions and contains only allowed quantity of pathogens and chemicals. There are mainly four factors to be considered in Clean Milk Production (CMP) practices. · Animal hygiene The animals should be maintained in hygienic environment for production of quality milk. It should be healthy. It should be fed with nutritious and complete feed which consist of roughages and concentrate mixtures and it may be in mash, pellet or in block form. Many factors influence the frequency of mastitis infection and management is particularly important. New infection is most common at drying off, at calving, in older cows and in poorly managed cows. The tests for changes in milk composition are simpler and some may be carried out on the farm (eg. California Mastitis Test). · Milking hygiene It covers management of personal hygiene of the milker and milking process. Milking should be done using the full hand. It is best to milk rear quarters first as they contain the higher proportion of milk. Pressing the teats using the thumb is not a good practice. It should be avoided otherwise the teats get damaged and mastitis may develop. The milking should be completed as quickly as possible in about 5-8 minutes. Milking should be done completely and if milk is left in the udder it will become a source of infection and causes mastitis to develop. The first milk should be tested for presence of mastitis every time prior to milking. If suspected for mastitis the particular quarter should not be milked and treated. · Equipment hygiene Milking vessels must have smooth milk contact surfaces with minimal joints and crevices. Renew rubber components of the milking machines at regular intervals. Water for dairy use must be clean. Detergents are needed for cleaning dairy equipments. Clean the milking equipment and cooler by rinsing in clean water, scrubbing in hot (≥45°C) detergent/disinfectant solution and finally rinsing in chlorinated (50 ppm) water. Drain all the milking and ancillary equipment in a clean place before storage. Direct-to-can milking is a very simple, low cost system of milking, cooling and cleaning specially devised for parlour milking. Milk is drawn directly from udder to milk can, eliminating milk lifting, carrying and tipping. · Processing hygiene It includes management practices during collection and transportation of milk. The milk secreted into an uninfected cow’s udder is sterile. Invariably it becomes contaminated as it passes through ducts and from reservoirs of udder and from external contamination from milker, utensils or from environment and milk is an excellent medium for bacteria, yeasts and moulds that are the common contaminants(Nanu et al, 2007). Their rapid growth, particularly at high ambient temperatures can cause marked deterioration, spoiling the milk for liquid consumption or manufacture into dairy products. This can be avoided by adopting the simple, basic rules of clean milk production. Milk at the time of milking will be at the body temperature. Preserving the milk at that temperature causes deterioration quickly. As such the milk should be chilled and stored. Chilling of milk enhances the storage time without spoiling. While transporting milk to the dairies also the cold chain should be maintained for preventing deterioration. The milk has to be cooled to a temperature below 50C by using refrigerators / water coolers preferably within 2 hours after milking. The milk can be cooled by immersing the cans of milk in clean, running water. With this background, we had conducted the study to assess the knowledge and adoption of the dairy farmers regarding clean milk production (CMP) practices. Review of literature Nanu et al. (2007) suggested that the hygienic practices followed during the production of milk at the point of production (farmers’ level) needs an improvement with regard to reduction in microbial count and overcoming the impact of the harmful pathogens. The presence of coliform, faecal streptococci and E. coli in milk indicated contamination of milk from the environmental sources and also from human and animal sources. Hence strict hygiene and health education needs to