| dc.description.abstract | Background:
Milk and milk product contamination is common in Uganda as in other developing countries, irregularities in the screening and un hygienic practices during milking, transportation, processing, packaging and storage have been cited as the main aetiology of contamination. Consumption of such products however poses a risk to transmission of milk borne diseases and epidemic outbreaks. Scarce data is available on the extent of microbial contamination in a highly populous slum area such as Kisenyi, a suburb with several diaries and milk consumers.
Methodology:
This was a cross sectional study conducted between April & March 2015 on 240 samples obtained from super markets and dairies around Kesenyi suburb Kampala city, to determine microbial contamination of milk and milk products. The samples collected were from yoghurt, raw milk and packaged/pasteurised milk; two different brands of pasteurised milk were used Jesa and Fresh Dairy. They were subjected to microbiological examination using total plate count (TPC) and Gram staining techniques. Questionnaires were also issued to the study participants using inclusion criteria.
Results:
All the samples obtained had coliform contamination. From the samples collected, 152(63.33%) showed growth whereas 88(36.67%) had no growth. Raw milk had the highest contamination of 62/70 (88.57%) for both coliform and total plate count, this was followed by yoghurt with contamination of 14/22(63.64%) and the last was pasteurized milk with contamination of 76/148(51.35%): With the pasteurised milk samples, fresh dairy had the highest contamination of 58(38.16%) compared to Jesa milk which had 30(19.74%).
Conclusion:
Generally the milk contamination rate in Kisenyi was high, a matter of serious public health concern. There is therefore an immense need for the regulatory bodies, milk producers and milk processing industries to improve milk safety through adhering to proper milk collection, transportation, storage and processing requirements. | en_US |
