Raw Milk Quality and Handling Practices by Pastoral Communities at Cattle Camps in Rejaf East, South Sudan

Abstract Food safety including imported food and produced food, is a major issue for South Sudan. An effective safety food control system for guiding and eliminating hazardous food from the market is lacking. Milk is one of the food products consumed in South Sudan; however, there is limited information regarding its handling and safety, especially among pastoral communities. Therefore, this study assessed raw milk quality and handling practices by pastoral communities at cattle camps in the Rejaf East, South Sudan. The study was conducted in three cattle camps (Highland, Kadoro, and Jebel Amianin) of the Rejaf East. Raw milk handling practices in the cattle camps were assessed using a questionnaire and observation checklist among 240 households selected randomly. The physicochemical and microbial parameters were assessed in 75 samples of raw milk using standard methods. The findings revealed that 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 the physicochemical parameters of the milk samples were as follows: fat = 7.76 ± 1.47%, SNF = 7.68 ± 0.26%, density = 1.03 ± 0.00 g/ml, lactose = 4.21 ± 0.15%, protein = 2.81 ± 0.09%, freezing point = -0.51 ± 0.030C, and pH 6.60 ± 0.21. The results of the microbiological quality of the raw milk indicated that the highest TVC (5.81 ± 0.51 logCFU/ml) was recorded in Jebel Amianin; on the other hand, the highest TCC (4.64 ± 0.21 logCFU/ml) was recorded in Kadoro, and the highest TSC (2.53 ± 0.31 logCFU/ml) was recorded in Highland Boma. The study indicated that pastoralists in cattle camps do not observe hygienic practices, including drying hands after handwashing or washing with udder and teats before milking. Furthermore, the study showed that the microbiological quality of raw milk samples obtained from the Rejaf East has a high bacterial load; therefore, there is a need to improve hygiene practices in milk production.