Milk Quality Flashcards
Common milk born diseases
Salmonella
Campylobacter
Caused by unpasteurised milk
What is the role of a vet in milk quality?
Data analysis - Bactoscan/TBC
Advice
Health plans/preventative help
Promote/monitor cow cleanliness
Review and monitor milking routines
Name 2 methods of antibiotic residue testing
inhibitor detection - delvotest
Immunological based tests - IDEXX snap
Sources of bacteria in milk
Bacteria from environment
Mastitis infections
Poor plant wash up routine - contaminates next batch
Bulk tank and cooling issues
Methods of preventing environmental bacteria
Minimise poaching of gateways and around water
Minimum 3m^2 per cow of additional space
Sand bedding
Potable water treated with UV source used in parlour
What is the most common cause of mastitis infections?
Streptococcus uberis
staphylococcus uberis
How to avoid mastitis infections getting into bulk tank
Strip quarters before placing clusters to check
Have good teat prep routine (clean and dry treat, disinfect with predip)
what is TBC/TVC
Total bacterial count/total viable count
Count of colonies growing on plate
Measures in CFU per ml
What is bactoscan?
Automated count of viable and non-viable bacteria
Will always be higher than TBC
Will be penalised for high bactoscan
What does qualitative bulk tank bacteriology tell you?
What bacteria is present?
May reflect one cow not the whole herd
What does quantitative bulk tank bacteriology tell you?
How many organisms are present?
Present at different temperatures
What does high coliform count tell you?
Likely environmental bacteria (from mastitis)
due to poor teat preparation
What does high psychrotrophic count tell you?
Bacteria can survive at low temperatures
Poor bulk tank cleaning due to water contamination
Inadequate cooling of milk
What does high thermoduric count tell you?
Bacteria can survive at high temperatures
Bacteria are surviving washing routine
Need to use hotter water - plant cleaning issue
Where does pasteurisation occur?
At dairy processor not farm
How can you tell if pasteurisation was successful?
ALP test
ALP should be inactivated by heat - should be negative
What temp does milk need to reach and for how long?
71.7 for 15s then immediate cooling
What temp does ice cream need to reach and for how long?
79.4 for 15s
Due to increased viscosity from high fat and solids content
How does pasteurisation affect nutrition?
Insignificant affect
What are the main health hazards from dairy products?
bTB
Campylobacter
Salmonella
Cryptosporidium
E coli
Listeria
Strep uberis
Staph aureus
What is a good milk plant cleaning routine?
Warm rinse
Hot wash cycle
Alkaline detergent
Cold rinse
What is the benefit of an alkaline detergent?
Prevents build up of milk fat residue
What is an acid boil wash?
96 degrees
To remove ‘milk stone’
What are the consequences of a poor pre-milking routine
Increased mastitis incidence - poor welfare
High TBC/TVC and bactoscan
Inefficient milk harvesting
teat end hyperkeratosis
What do dirty legs on a cow indicate?
Faecal splashing from alleys
Inadequate cleaning
Inefficient space for cows
What do dirty tails indicate on a cow?
Loose faces/too small cubicles
what do dirty flanks indicate on a cow?
Poor lying surface management
Inadequate bedding
Heavily soiled straw yards
What are the minimum standards for raw milk
Negative for salmonella
<100 coliforms Per 100ml
