Control the Quality of Your Milk and Make More Profit

SDP SMALLHOLDER DAIRY PROJECT Control the Quality of Your Milk and Make More Profit TRAINING GUIDE FOR SMALL-SCALE MILK MARKET TRADERS IN KENYA APRIL 2003

Preface This guideline addresses the milk quality and testing requirements of small raw milk traders. It has been produced through collaboration between FAO, the DFID funded MoALD/KARI/ILRI Smallholder Dairy Project, Land O Lakes Inc. and the Kenya Dairy Board in support of dairy development efforts in Kenya. There is a Training Guideline for Trainers that accompanies this guideline for use during formal training sessions. The Training Guideline for Tutors outlines what lessons to impart during a recommended four-day training course that will ensure that the milk traders obtain maximum benefit from the training.

CONTROL THE QUALITY OF YOUR MILK AND MAKE MORE PROFIT Introduction As a milk trader, you are aware that no other food gets spoilt more easily than milk. Just as humans like milk for its nutritive value, bacteria that cause milk spoilage also do. This guideline is designed to help you learn how to reduce the losses caused by spoilage to allow you to increase your profits. The guideline has been put together with the participation of a pilot group of small scale raw milk traders in various parts of Kenya to ensure that the material and methods suggested are relevant, simple and practical, thus making them directly applicable within your circumstances. Improving your image as a quality milk trader should ensure customer satisfaction and more sales for your business. The Guideline is designed for use in a short formal training programme covering four days. However, any milk trader can also easily read and apply the illustrated instructions and methods. 4

TRAINING GUIDE FOR SMALL-SCALE INFORMAL MILK MARKET AGENTS IN KENYA THIS GUIDELINE WILL HELP YOU LEARN: 1. Causes of milk spoilage 2. Why you need to know about milk quality control 3. What is milk quality control 4. How to ensure good quality milk, including: a. Advice to give to the farmer b. Hygienic milk handling c. How to test milk quality d. How to preserve your milk to reduce spoilage 5

CONTROL THE QUALITY OF YOUR MILK AND MAKE MORE PROFIT 1. CAUSES OF MILK SPOILAGE You no doubt face many constraints or problems in marketing your milk. Many of these constraints or problems cause milk spoilage or are the result of it. The constraints or problems may include: long distance or duration to resale point, type of containers used, how the containers are washed, method of preservation, low profit, lack of training etc. All these factors relate to milk spoilage. Relationships between you and various stakeholders in milk marketing, whether positive (e.g., provision of training) or negative (e.g., harassment) may also have influenced your business and the quality of milk that you sell. If you are in a formal training session, your trainer can discuss with you more examples on these relationships. Ensure to let him/her know all the constraints that you face, what you already know about the causes and effects of milk spoilage, and your relationships with various stakeholders. 6

TRAINING GUIDE FOR SMALL-SCALE INFORMAL MILK MARKET AGENTS IN KENYA 2. WHY YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MILK QUALITY CONTROL Milk has nutrients that make it suitable for the rapid multiplication of bacteria that cause spoilage. Unhygienic production, poor handling and undesirable practices such as addition of water or other substances introduce the bacteria or germs and that cause the spoilage. The resulting wastage can make you loose profits that you would have otherwise made. Unhygienic handling can also affect human health. Your trainer can explain the details for greater understanding. In addition, regulatory authorities will likely require that you undergo a training course that covers the contents of this guideline before they may issue you with a license to trade in milk. Potential sources of contamination Bacterial multiplication by division as below 2 4 8 16 32 1,000,000 Bacteria in milk multiplies very quickly, if milk is not cooled 7

CONTROL THE QUALITY OF YOUR MILK AND MAKE MORE PROFIT 3. WHAT IS MILK QUALITY CONTROL Milk quality control is the practice of specified hygienic methods and use of approved tests to ensure good milk quality. The tests are designed to help you reduce milk spoilage. See Section 4 for details on these methods and tests. You will need to practice the tests with a trainer to ensure that you are able to use them properly. 4. HOW TO ENSURE GOOD QUALITY MILK This Section will take you through four steps, namely: a. Advice to give to the farmer b. Hygienic milk handling c. How to test milk quality d. How to preserve your milk to reduce spoilage a. Advice To Give To Farmers Quality control and assurance must begin at the farm. That way, the milk that you collect will have fewer bacteria that cause spoilage. Therefore, advice the farmer supplying you with milk to do the following: Keep clean and healthy cows Keep clean milking environment 8

TRAINING GUIDE FOR SMALL-SCALE INFORMAL MILK MARKET AGENTS IN KENYA Wash hands with soap Wash udder with clean cloth Wash hands with soap Wash udder with clean cloth Make the first draw into a strip cup and throw away Make the first draw into a strip cup and throw away Use clean containers to milk Cows with mastitis should be milked last and their milk discarded 9

CONTROL THE QUALITY OF YOUR MILK AND MAKE MORE PROFIT Milk from cows under treatment should not be sold until 4 days after last treatment After every milking, dip teats into antiseptic dip During milking, the milker should not: a) have long nails, b) sneeze or cough, c) smoke After every milking, dip teats into antiseptic dip During milking, the milker should not......have long nails...smoke...sneeze or cough After milking, cover the milk to avoid contamination After milking, cover the milk to avoid contamination 10

TRAINING GUIDE FOR SMALL-SCALE INFORMAL MILK MARKET AGENTS IN KENYA b. Hygienic milk handling Ensure that you always use a metal (e.g., made of aluminum) container and not plastic containers. When transferring milk between containers, try to pour, not scoop. Scooping may introduce spoilage bacteria When transferring milk between containers, try to pour, not scoop 11

CONTROL THE QUALITY OF YOUR MILK AND MAKE MORE PROFIT Before re-using the milk container, Pre-rinse the container soon after use Thoroughly scrub the milk container with warm water and detergent or soap (using something like a hand brush or Super-brite ) Rinse milk container in running water Thoroughly scrub the milk container Rinse milk container in running water 12

TRAINING GUIDE FOR SMALL-SCALE INFORMAL MILK MARKET AGENTS IN KENYA Dip rinse container in boiling water for at least one minute Air-dry milk container in the open in inverted position. Dip rinse container in boiling water Air-dry milk container 13

CONTROL THE QUALITY OF YOUR MILK AND MAKE MORE PROFIT c. How to test your milk before receiving You can ensure that the milk that you receive from the farmer is of good quality by doing one or more of the following four basic tests. i) Using your senses of sight, smell and taste to test the milk This should be the first test you perform. It simply requires the use of your senses to test the milk. It is easy and straightforward, allowing you to segregate poor quality milk before receiving. Milk that cannot be adequately judged this way should be subjected to other more sensitive and objective tests. No equipment is required, but the milk grader must have good sense of sight, smell and taste. Procedure: Open a can of milk. Immediately smell the milk and establish the nature and intensity of smell, if any. (the milk may smell non-fresh or foreign odours may be detected). Observe the appearance of the milk (look at color of milk, any marked separation of fat, color and physical state of the fat, foreign/physical dirt). If still unable to make a clear judgment, taste the milk, but do not swallow it. Spit out the milk you have tasted. smell the milk 14

TRAINING GUIDE FOR SMALL-SCALE INFORMAL MILK MARKET AGENTS IN KENYA Touch the milk can to feel whether warm or cold. This will indicate to you how long milk has taken since milking and will influence the lactometer test for adulteration (see below). Judgment: Abnormal appearance, smell or taste that may make you reject the milk could be caused by: Type of feed or atmospheric taint Cows in late lactation. Bacterial taints Chemical taints or discoloring. Advanced acidification or souring Boiling of milk Marked separation may be caused by: Milk previously chilled and subjected to disturbance during transportation Adulteration by other solids (may also show as sediments or particles) Boiling, if milk fat is hardened 15

CONTROL THE QUALITY OF YOUR MILK AND MAKE MORE PROFIT ii) Clot on Boiling Test This test is quick and simple. It allows you to reject milk that has stayed for too long and has developed high acidity or colostral milk that has very high percentage of protein. Such milk does not stand heat treatment. Procedure and judgement: Boil a small amount of milk in a spoon or other suitable container. If there is clotting, coagulation or precipitation, the milk has failed the test and should be rejected. Boil a small amount of milk in a spoon iii) Alcohol Test The test is also quick and simple. It allows you to detect bad milk that may have passed all the above tests. It also detects lower levels of acidity(compared to clot on boiling test) if the milk has stayed too long, colostrum or milk from a cow with mastitis. 16

TRAINING GUIDE FOR SMALL-SCALE INFORMAL MILK MARKET AGENTS IN KENYA Procedure and judgment: Use a syringe to draw equal amounts of milk and 70% of ethanol alcohol solution 1 in a small tube (such as those used to administer medicine to children). Mix 2 mls milk is with 2 mls 70% alcohol. Use a syringe to draw equal amounts of milk Mix 2 mls milk with 2 mls alcohol If the tested milk sample coagulates, clots or precipitates, it will have failed the test and the milk should be rejected. Because this test is quite sensitive, milk that passes this test can keep for some hours before it goes bad. sample coagulates, clots failed the test 1 70 % Ethanol solution is prepared from 70 mls of 96% or absolute alcohol (which is what you usually get in the chemist) and 26 mls distilled water. You may ask the chemist to pre-dilute the ethanol to 70% for you. 17

CONTROL THE QUALITY OF YOUR MILK AND MAKE MORE PROFIT iv) Lactometer Test As you know, some milk suppliers can adulterate milk with added water to cheat on the quantity of milk they sell to you or to add other solids to make it look thicker. Addition of anything to milk also introduces bacteria that will make your milk to spoil quickly. Here is how to test the milk to check whether the milk has been adulterated. The test is based on the fact that milk has a heavier weight or density compared to water. When milk is adulterated with water or other solids are added, the density of milk changes from its normal value to lower weight (if water is added) or higher weight (if solids are added) abnormal. The equipment used to determine milk density is called a lactometer. Most lactometers are usually marked from 0 (representing specific gravity of 1.000 g/ml) to 40 (representing specific gravity of 1.040 g/ml). Equipment used for determination of milk density 18

TRAINING GUIDE FOR SMALL-SCALE INFORMAL MILK MARKET AGENTS IN KENYA Procedure: Ensure that the milk has been left to cool at room temperature for at least 30 minutes) and its temperature is about 20 o C. Mix the milk sample and pour it gently into a measuring cylinder measuring about 100 mls. Then let the Lactometer sink slowly into the milk. Read the lactometer reading just above the surface of the milk. If the temperature of the milk is different from the calibration temperature of the lactometer (about 20 o C), then use this correction factor: For each o C above the calibration temperature add 0.2 o lactometer reading from the recorded lactometer reading, and for each o C below calibration temperature subtract 0.2 o lactometer reading from the recorded lactometer reading. These calculations are done on the lactometer readings i.e., 29 instead of the true density of 1.029 g/ml. Judgment: Normal milk has specific gravity of 1.026-1.032 g/ml (or 26-32 on the lactometer reading). If water has been added, the lactometer reading will be below 26. And if any solid such as flour has been added, the reading will be over 32. OTHER TESTS There are other tests that are not essential for you. Ask your trainer if you wish to know them. 19

CONTROL THE QUALITY OF YOUR MILK AND MAKE MORE PROFIT d. How to preserve your milk to reduce spoilage In order to ensure that you further increase the shelf life of your milk after receiving it, you need to keep it in a cool place. If you do not have a refrigerator, you may keep the milk in cold water or in a hole in a shade. Keep the milk in a cool place in a hole in a shade in cold water 20

TRAINING GUIDE FOR SMALL-SCALE INFORMAL MILK MARKET AGENTS IN KENYA Lastly, ferry your milk quickly to your customers and make them happy. Remind them to always boil before drinking. Ferry your milk quickly to your customers Remind the customer to always boil before drinking 21

CONTROL THE QUALITY OF YOUR MILK AND MAKE MORE PROFIT Following the practical exercises, your trainer will ask you to go and practice the milk quality control and hygiene tests under your normal milk marketing routines. You will be asked to return the following day to review your experiences and to evaluate what you have learnt in the training course. REMEMBER Proper hygiene practice in milk production and handling is key to the longer shelf life of milk Cooling of milk will slow down the multiplication of bacteria and prolong shelf life. But milk that already has many bacteria in it will not keep as long even when cooled 22

TRAINING GUIDE FOR SMALL-SCALE INFORMAL MILK MARKET AGENTS IN KENYA Other Sources of Information: 1. Milk Processing Guide series Volume 2, FAO/TCP/KEN/ 6611Project; Training program for small scale Dairy Sector and Dairy Training Institute Naivasha. 2. Code of hygienic practice for production, handling and distribution of milk and milk products (KEBS) 23

M CONTROL THE QUALITY OF YOUR MILK AND MAKE MORE PROFIT ILRI INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH I N S T I T U T E DFID Department for International Development MALD 24