MICROBIAL DIVERSITY OF RAW MILK COLLECTED FROM OFFA METROPOLIS

Abstract

Milk has an outstanding nutritional quality but it is also an excellent medium for bacterial growth and an important source of bacterial infection when consumed without pasteurization. Generally microbial contamination of milk can occur through the udder and its exterior, milk handlers and storage equipment. Furthermore, the collection and transportation of raw milk to the processing centers in most developing countries usually goes unchecked/ unsupervised. There is paucity of data on the routine hygienic quality control of raw milk and milk product in Offa and thus poses significant health risk to the consumers. The aim of this study is to isolate, identify, and characterized bacteria from fresh milk samples collected around Offa and its environment for evaluation of consumption safety. The samples was carried out by using serial dilution of 104,6&7 and was plated by using pour plate method, morphological characterization was carried out and lastly biochemical test. A total of ten isolates were recovered from three fresh milk samples across Federal Polytechnic Offa (animal husbandry), Ojuku area and Ilemona area in Offa. The pathogenic bacteria was identified by using the bergeys manual of determinative bacteriology from the sample includes Klebsiella oxytoca (20%), Enterobacter intermedius (40%), Klebsiella pneumonia (20%), Enterobacter aerogenes (10%), and Serratia fonticola (10%). Many bacteria could get access to milk and milk product such as E. coli (coliforms) which are often used as indicator organisms to confirm the bacteria contamination of milk.