Healthy milk for Sahel: Improved milk quality as a contribution to income generation, food security and public health

Abstract
The project started in June 2000. A research partnership agreement was signed with Institut du Sahel (INSAH) and the Laboratoire Central Vétérinaire (LCV) both in Bamako, Mali. A project co-ordinator (Dr. Bassirou Bonfoh) was employed and a research group identified. The different research protocols (milk sampling scheme, milk ELISA, food microbiology, medical bacteriology and toxicology) were established. Field sampling and laboratory analyses started in February 2001. At the moment of reporting a total number of 107 milk and milk product samples have been collected at 15 different markets or selling points. The proportion of White-side test positi-ve samples was 70 %, indicating a high prevalence of sub-clinical mastitis. The Abortus Bang Ring-test (ABR) was used for the investigation of brucellosis. 31.5% of the fresh milk samples were positive with the ABR test, while 26,8% of the samples were positive using a confirmatory milk ELISA test. The ELISA was used with both fresh and fermented milk samples. Food micro-biology results show a very high contamination of almost all the samples of milk and milk pro-ducts. The samples were mainly contaminated by Enterobacteriacea (faecal contamination), Enterococcus, Staphylococcus aureus (mastitis), yeast and moulds (transformation). This high contamination indicated the need to analyse the market chain to identify critical contamination points. The progress of the research project is in line with the proposed plan.


Contact:

Dr. Zakaria Farah
Institute of Food Science
ETH-Zentrum
8092-Zurich
zakaria.farah@ilw.agrl.ethz.ch



Dr. Jakob Zinsstag
Swiss Tropical Institute
4002- Basel
jakob.zinsstag@unibas.ch


Dr. Idriss Alfarouk
Institute du Sahel
BP 1530
Bamako Mali
e-mail: idriss@agrosoc.insah.ml