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Manoj Sharma
Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kapurthala
India has emerged as the highest milk producing country in the world with
an annual production more than 81million tones. We have reached to this milestone by
our countless efforts, incorporating new techniques Artificial Insemination, improving
management practices etc. The per capita milk availability has also increased to 340
gm/day from 220-250 gm/day during 1990's. Presently, we can afford to export milk and
milk products to other countries. Further, with the introduction of the WTO we have got a
fair chance to grow our dominance in this sector. However, the globalization has given
added benefit to the customers for choosing the best with regard to quality, service,
availability, price and brand image. So, producing clean milk has become the utmost
necessity, if our dairy industry has to survive in the open market now.
Clean milk does not mean making the milk free from extraneous matters
by passing it through sieve or muslin cloth. It actually means, the raw milk that has been
drawn from the udder of the healthy animal, produced and handled under hygienic
conditions and contains only small amount of pathogenic bacteria. This is because
earlier we use to determine the quality of milk on the basis of fat, and SNF content,
which does not fulfill the quality requirement in the present scenario. Quality of the milk
needs to be graded on the basis of the number of the microorganism, amount of
antibiotic residue, insecticides and pesticides etc. present in the milk. Milk is the ideal
medium for the rapid microbial growth, so we must take the strict measures to ensure
the safety and cleanliness.
To maintain the quality of the milk, there is need to introduce strict and
standard hygienic practices/measures right from the udder of the cow till it reaches to the
consumer.
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• Deputy Director (Training)
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Major elements of clean milk production can be discussed under the following heads:
1. Animal housing management.
2. Animal health management.
3. Feeding management.
4. Management of personal hygiene.
5. Management during collection and transport of milk.
Adequate provision should be made for cleaning and sanitizing the vessels used for
milk collection. Sanitizer should be kept away from the milk collection place.
If cloth is used for staining, it should be washed after every collection and sanitized
by using bleaching powder.
All the can lids should not be kept on ground.
The lids should be tightly fitted on cans to prevent spillage. If looses, replace same.
Do not use hay, grass etc. to give a fitting to the lid.
Milk should be kept covered always.
It should be ensured that the milk cans are in shade when kept for loading in the
truck.
Trucks without the cover or hood should not b used. As they expose the milk to
sunlight and hence accelerate the growth of microorganisms.
Transportation of other materials along with the milk cans leads to contamination.
Careless handling of cans leads to dents/damages, which act as points for growth of
microorganisms. Moreover, It becomes very difficult to clean the cans.
As a link in the milk chain, the transporter has a major responsibility to ensure
that the quality of the milk does not deteriorate in his hands. Most of the growth of
microorganisms takes place during the time lag between milk collection and the milk
receipt at the dairy/collection dock. It should be ensured that this time has to be reduced
to the possible extent.
It is the need of the hour and necessity to withstand in this competitive
world and to get maximum benefits, we must shift towards marketing of milk products
than milk as liquid reason being these milk products help us in fetching the higher
returns. For getting higher returns, we have to meet certain minimum
parameters/conditions. Hence, it is the ardent duty of everyone that produces and
handles milk to prevent contamination at every stage. This will ensure the growth and
development of the dairy industry of our country.
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