A considerable amount of antibiotics is used in the treatment of animal diseases, particularly mastitis. After giving an antibiotic treatment, milk from the treated animal is not supposed to be used for human consumption for 72 hours. If this precaution is not taken, the residual antibiotics may be detected in the entire supply. The presence of antibiotics in milk or other dairy products has serious health implications, and hence must be used only as specified.

Toxic industrial chemicals are a source of environmental contamination and also of serious exposure to certain workplaces. Heavy metals, for example lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic, have been reported in milk and milk products. Lead and mercury have been a major cause of infant poisoning through milk.

The greed for easy money has lead to widespread adulteration of milk and milk products. The menace of adulteration is so rampant that adulterators do not hesitate to adulterate milk even with synthetic milk, which is prepared by mixing urea, detergents and vegetables oils. Requirements for clean milk The birthplace of the cow or the buffalo is the dairy farm. Proper care for production of clean milk starts at the animal shed itself.

• The animal should be healthy and free from diseases. Regular check-ups need to be carried out by a veterinary doctor. Only healthy animals should be milked. The cattle shed should be well ventilated and lit, and there should be proper arrangement for quick disposal of the excreta. A wire mesh must be used to prevent the entry of flies and mosquitoes. The floor of the shed should be kept neat, clean and dry. While milking, the animal’s udders should be washed properly.
• A healthy person should milk the animals. He should avoid sneezing, coughing, etc., and must wear clean clothes.
• Milking vessels should be cleaned properly with chemicals or detergents that are not injurious to health.
• Arrangements must be made in advance to immediately cool the milk to 4 degrees Celsius within an hour of milking.
• Besides, the ingredients and cleaning agents used must be of the desired quality. Similarly, services for the manufacturing units like heating and cooling, power and water, and effluent management should also be available.
• There should be a provision for checking the quality, sampling and testing. Technical and commercial know-how must also be available.
• Above all, there should a commitment from the top to bottom level for quality by following GMP (general manufacturing practices) norms in the plant.

Grade	MBRT (Hrs)
Very Good	5 and above
Good	3 and 4
Fair	1 and 2
Poor	1/2

Quality assurance

• A campaign for clean milk production should be launched on a large scale.
• The use of modern fast biotechnology-based tests for identification of food pathogens by flow cytometry, turbidimetry, impedimetry, ELISA, PCR, Biosensors and electro-chemilumine-scence can be employed.
• Rapid tests like phosphatase test and MBRT used in the dairy industry are quite useful. A positive phosphatase test gives an indication that milk has not been pasteurised properly and need to be pasteurised again. Similarly, methylene blue reduction test (MBRT) gives the bacteriological load of raw milk. The bacteriological standard recommended by the BIS gives the above grading:(see chart above). It is widely accepted that low-MBR milk has a very high bacterial count and indicates poor sanitary conditions. A low MBR clearly indicates that the milk is not only from a diseased animal or an infected udder, but also that milking and handling has been under unhygienic conditions.
• The old system of testing milk for fat and SNF content only needs to be abandoned. There is a need to look at the bacteriological and hygienic quality of milk and find ways and means to improve it right from the point of milk production in the village till it reaches the consumer. The dairy industry will have to keep pace with the high standards of hygiene if it is to survive in the global competition.

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