Bacteriological Quality of Raw Camel Milk in Gursum District , Somali Regional State , Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was carried out from November 2015 to April 2016 at three Kebeles in Gursum district (Bombas, Golehajo and Kobijaro), Fafan zone, Somali Regional State of Ethiopia to investigate the hygienic practices and bacteriological quality of raw camel milk at farm level and milk collection centers. The study employed total bacterial count, coliform count and questionnaire survey to evaluate the hygienic practices during milking. A total of 90 farm owners (30 from each Kebele) were interviewed. For total bacterial count and coliform count 15 milk samples from farms and 15 samples from milk collection centers for each Kebele were collected. A total of 90 milk samples were processed for TBC and CC. The overall means of total bacterial count and coliform count were 5.9 log cfu/ml and 1.9 log cfu/ml respectively. The present finding showed that 10 10 there was significant difference (P<0.05) in both total bacterial count and coliform count between farms and milk collection centers. The questionnaire survey indicated that total bacterial and coliform counts were both significantly associated with level of education, milker’s sex, washing of hands and udder before milking, application of teat dips, smoking and type of milk containers. It can be concluded that the quality of camel milk in the study area is not up to the standard and awareness creation on good hygienic practices and clean milk production should be provided to camel milk producers.