Microbiological Safety and Quality of Raw Milk at Pastoral Community Cattle Campsites in Rejaf East Payam, South Sudan

The safety of dairy products concerning foodborne diseases is a major concern worldwide. This is particularly true in developing countries, where milk and various dairy products are produced under unhygienic conditions and poor production practices. Milk is one of the food products consumed in South Sudan, however, there is limited information regarding its handling and safety, especially among the pastoral communities. Therefore, this study assessed raw milk's microbiological safety and quality at pastoral communities’ cattle campsites in Rejaf East Payam, South Sudan. A total of 240 households and 75 raw milk samples were selected at random. The findings revealed that the milking handling practices at cattle camps are characterized by hygienic and unhygienic practices. The pastoral communities had no access to a cooling system for milk storage. Additionally, 90.8% of the households in cattle camps consumed unboiled raw milk, and 10% of the households experienced milk rejection at the point of milk sale. The overall means of physicochemical parameters of milk samples were; fat = 7.76±1.47%, SNF = 7.68±0.26%, density = 1.03±0.00g/ml, lactose = 4.21±0.15%, protein = 2.81±0.09%, and pH 6.60±0.21. The result of the microbiological quality of raw milk indicated that the highest TVC (5.81 ± 0.51logCFU/ml) was recorded in Jebel Amianin cattle camp, on the other hand, the highest TCC (4.64 ± 0.21 logCFU/ml) was recorded in Kadoro cattle camp and TSC (2.53 ± 0.31logCFU/ml) recorded in Highland cattle camp. Furthermore, the study shows that the microbiological quality of raw milk samples is not within the standard and therefore there is a need to improve hygiene practices in milk production.