Microbiological Spoilage of Dairy Products

HOUSING MANAGEMENT

BREEDING HEALTH

FEEDING
HYGIENE

ENVIRONMENT
MILKING

RETAINING QUALITY CONTAMINATION

BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR “OPTIMUM PRODUCTIVITY”

 Microbes in raw milk
Three basic sources
 From within the udder

 From exterior of teats and udder

 From milk handling and storage

equipment
 Factors Affecting
 Duration of milk storage-time vary
widely
 Udder-diseases-mastitis associated
micro-organisms
Factors influencing microbiological
quality of raw milk
 Initial micro flora
 Bio-security, udder diseases and
bacterial content
 Pathogens for man in raw milk

 Environmental sources

 Micro flora of milking equipment

 Influence of storage and transport

 Microbial Count
 Vary:< 1000 to >106 /ml (SPC)
 Not exact estimate of total
bacterial content
 Types of Microflora
 Heterogeneous population-
mesophilic, thermoduric,
thermophilic, psychrotrophic and
pathogenic organisms
 Presence/relative proportions vary
with the conditions of milk
production and handling.
 Cultivation conditions
 Psychrotrophs: incubation at 5°-7°C
for 10 days
 Thermodurics: after pasteurizing milk
sample
 Other groups: selective media
coliforms, lactic acid bacteria, Gram-
negative rods, pathogenic organisms,
etc.
 Mesophilic Microflora
Growth temp. >30°C in 2-3 days (less than
5,000 cfu/ml)
 Micrococci & Staph. 30-90%
 Streptococci 0-50%
 Asporogenous Gram+ve rods <10
 Sporogenous Gram+ve rods <10
 Gram-ve rods (including coliforms) <10
 Miscellaneous <10
 Thermoduric Microflora
 Survive pasteurization (can’t grow
at pasteurization temp.)
 Count varies widely & most do not
multiply faster at ambient temp.
Thermoduric microbes in raw milk
 Microbacterium (100%)-milking equipment
 Bacillus (spores)-teat surface (bedding)
 Clostridium (Spores)-Silage & bedding
 Micrococcus-(less) milking equipment
 Alcaligenes1-10%
 Others (Streptococci, lactobacilli,
coryneforms)
 Thermophilic Microflora
 Readily grow at 55°C to 70°C

 Standard method incubate at 55°C

 Grow at pasteurization temp.

 Facultative thermophiles grow at

37°C or lower (SPC analysis)
 Thermophilic bacteria
 Soil, bedding, feeds & water supplies
 Increases if raw milk stored under
warmer ambient conditions
 Aerobic or facultatively anaerobic
spore formers Bacilli (B.
stearothermophilus, B. circulans, B.
thermoacidurans), Lactobacillus
thermophilus (also in genus Bacillus).
 Psychrotrophic Microflora
 Grow at refrigeration temp. (2° - 7°C)
 Majority mesophilic

 Optimum growth temp. 20° to 32°C

 Detected at 5°-7°C in 7-10 days

 Gram-negative rods & Gram-positive

rods or cocci.
 Psychrotrophs
 Gram-negative rods are common in
fresh raw milk (10-15% of the
initial microbial count)-Genera
Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter,
Flavobacterium, Achromobacter,
Alcaligenes and Enterobacter
(coliforms).
 Pseudomonas
 50% of Gram-negative rods are Ps.
fluorescens (predominant), Ps.
putida, Ps. fargi, Ps. aeruginosa etc.
 Produce heat stable enzymes
(lipases and proteinases) in
refrigerated milk
 Pseudomonas-Cont..
 Vegetative cells killed at
pasteurization
 Produce Enzymes-responsible for
fat & casein degradation
 Source-improperly cleaned milking
equipment
Gram-positive-psychrotrophs
 Gram-positive rods & cocci

 Bacillus spp. (B. coagulans, B.

circulans & B. subtilis)
 Arthrobacter spp.

 Streptococcus spp.
Coliform (mainly Enterobacter spp.)
 Aerobic & facultative anaerobic,
 Gram-ve Non-spore forming rods
 Ferment sugar lactose (acid & gas) at
32°C in 48 h
 10-13% of the psychrotrophs in raw
milk
 Escherichia, Enterobacter (Aerobacter)
& Klebsiella
 Presence of coliforms
 Index of direct faecal contamination
(in water but not in milk)
 Other sources-improperly cleaned
milking equipment (moist, milky
residues allow multiplication)
 Absence-cleaned milking equipment
not necessarily true.
 Cont…
 Also included under thermoduric
microflora (in commercially
pasteurized samples).
 Improperly cleaned milking
equipment & psychrotrophic
Gram-negative rods (derived from
animal’s teat also)
Pathogenic microbes in raw milk
Gain entry into raw milk
• Co-secretion into milk as a result
of diseased animal or its udder
• Contamination of milk from
infected human handlers, faecal
and non-faecal sources, etc.
Pathogenic microbes in raw milk
 Brucellosis (Brucella abortus, Br. melitensis, Br.
suis)
 Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis or M.
bovis)
 Mastitis
 Frequently-Strept. agalactiae, Staph. aureus, E.
coli
 Infrequent-Listeria monocytogenes, L.
icterohaemorrhagiae, B. cereus, Cl. Perfringens,
P. multocida, Actinomyces & Coxiella burnetii
 Cont..
 Faecal contamination- Salmonella
typhi, Sal. Paratyphi
 Human handlers (infected/carriers)
Sal. Schottmuelleri, Sal. hirschfeldii, E.
coli, Vibrio cholerae, Shigella
dysenteriae, Sh. Flexneri, Streptococcus
pyogenes
 Rodents Streptobacillus moniliformis
 Pathogens- cont..
 Bovine mastitis(infrequent)-yeast
Cryptococcus neoformans
 Viruses Adenoviruses, Enteroviruses,
Hepatitis virus (Human handlers)
 Tick-borne encephalitis virus & FMD
(milch animals)