Bacteriological Quality Of Raw Cow?s Milk From Milk Collection Centres

Pravina Vathi R., Fhitri M., Zamila Z., Roseliza R., Khoo E., Nafizah M., Norazariyah M.N., Siti Nor Hanani R., Saifu Nazri R. & Noormah M.A.

Bacteriological quality is a crucial element for quality checking of locally produced milk which is collected at the milk collecting centres (MCC) as it determines the safety level of the milk and also the price of the milk under the Price Incentive Program (PIP). This paper reports the bacteriological quality of raw cow?s milk samples received by Veterinary Research Institute, Ipoh (VRI) from year 2017-2018 from 4 milk collection centres in Perak: Sg. Siput, Tapah, Taiping and Parit. A TPC less than 106 cfu/ml is the standard set by the Department of Veterinary Services Malaysia (DVS) for the dairy farmer?s milk PIP. A total of 4,902 milk samples were received within the 2 years period (2017-2018) comprising 2,165 samples from Sg. Siput, 1,560 from Tapah, 1,058 from Parit and 119 from Taiping. An overall of 27.8% of the milk samples collected in Perak MCC were heavily contaminated with the TPC of 106 cfu/ml and above. Analysis according to MCC showed that 43.0% of milk samples from Sg. Siput MCC had TPC of 106 cfu/ml and above, followed by Taiping (25.2%), Tapah (18.3%) and Parit (11.1%). In conclusion, the bacteriological quality result indicates that there is a need to improve the quality of raw milk delivered by farmers to MCC in Perak as it poses great significance on the milk consumer?s health and the economic development of dairy sector.