Handling Practice and Microbial Quality of Raw Cow’s Milk Produced and Marketed In Adigrat Town, North Eastern Tigray

Milk is a yellowish-white non-transparent liquid secreted by the mammary glands of all mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition and food for offspring of mammals before they are able to eat and digest other types of food. Study was conducted in Adigrat town, Northern Ethiopia, aimed to assess the general handling practice and microbial quality of raw cow’s milk. A total of 47 respondents were randomly selected from dairy cooperative milk producing center. A total of 3 sample of raw cow’s milk were collected at morning to investigate the microbial quality of raw cow’s milk. The entire sample was collected using random proportional sampling method. The overall mean of coliform count, spore forming bacterial count, staphylococcus aurous bacterial count and aerobic mesophilic bacterial count of raw cow’s milk obtained in the study area were, 9.5*104, 3.6*104, 9.91*104 and 7.4*104 cfu/ml, respectively. Staphylococcus aurous count, coliform count, aerobic mesophilic bacteria count were significantly higher than spore forming bacteria count in the study area (P <0.05). The overall hygienic status and the sanitary condition and handling practices of the vendors were not to the standard. The milk is sold to unsuspecting clients who are likely to get food-borne diseases. This study recommends training of dairy cooperative milk producers on hygiene, sanitation and the establishment of code of practice for dairy cooperative milk producers. Keywords: Raw milk, microbial quality, handling practic