Assessment of raw milk quality management in smallholder collection systems in Nakuru and Nyandarua counties, Kenya

Abstract

Kenya has one of the largest dairy industries in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the milk marketed by small
scale farmers in Kenya has been reported to be of poor quality and does not meet national and 
international standards due to high bacterial load, high somatic cell count, adulteration and antibiotic 
residues. This study was designed to assess status of microbiological and physico-chemical quality of 
raw milk from two smallholder dairy farmer’ groups at four sampling levels. Three hundred and eight 
raw milk samples were collected and analyzed along the value chain. Microbiological analysis for total 
bacterial count and coliform count was carried out using 3MTM Petrifilms plates. The average total 
bacterial and coliform counts Log10 per ml at the processing factory was 8.462 and 6.770 for Ngorika 
and Olenguruone, respectively. The antibiotic residues especially β- lactam was prevalent with 44.5% of 
all the analyzed samples being positive. Likewise, 60% of the samples had a range of 150,000 to 500,000 
somatic cells/ml. Average water adulteration level for the two collecting and bulking enterprises was 
30.3%. TVBC and CC should be used instead of resazurin while freezing point determination should be 
used for adulteration.