Milk Hygiene Training Programme

July 29, 2016

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MILK HYGIENE TRAINING PROGRAMME

Caring for a high quality of hygiene is one of the today’s most important milk production aims. Consumers of dairy milk in the Somali ecosystem are becoming more responsible for the safeness of milk products and the conditions under which these are produced. It has therefore been essential to ensure high-quality raw milk can be produced from healthy animals under good hygiene conditions and that control measures are applied to protect human health.

To conduct tests to assess the freshness, hygiene and composition of milk, laboratories and well-trained technicians are needed. In light of this, Reinforcing Animal Health Services Project (RAHSP) organized a second refreshment training on milk hygiene and microbiology for seven laboratory staff representing the Somaliland central veterinary laboratory. One of the facilitators was Muse Mohammed one of ISTVS’ food Lab technicians. The training took place on 23rd -28th July 2016 at the Somaliland Central Veterinary Laboratory in Hargeisa. The training objectives included the following:

To define Milk and explain its role in clinical medicine
To describe components of Milk and their role
Understanding milk Factors Influencing milk composition
Comparing Different Milk from species of mammals
Understanding Organoleptic Characteristics of milk
To conduct chemical and physical examination of milk
To evaluate general hygiene of milk based on Microbiology
To calculate the dilution, in both serial and simple dilution

To achieve the above objectives, a training curriculum which entailed five chapters was employed. The first chapter was in sensory testing of milk, the second on Simple dilution and serial dilution, knowing how to prepare, sterilize, streak, incubate and finally read the result of the milk test was the third chapter. Such knowledge is necessary for the interpretation of the results of the bacteriological examination. The fourth chapter was on microbiology testing of milk and lastly the introduction of Chemical analysis of milk.

Training methodology included class lecture, group discussions, class plenary, practicals, the use of virtual labs and tutorials. The Director General of the ministry of livestock gave his closing remarks and appreciated RAHSP team for their continuous, commitment, support and cooperation with the Ministry of Livestock especially in the capacity building of laboratory technicians in the country.

The trained laboratory staff should indeed disseminate the knowledge acquired to reduce the risk Zoonoses pose to public health.