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Importance of Pre-Milking Udder Hygiene to Reduce Transfer of Clostridial Spores from Teat Skin to Raw Milk

Butyric acid producing clostridia (BAPC) cause the so-called late-blowing defect, a serious quality problem in semi-hard and hard cheeses. Late-blown cheeses are characterized by undesired slits and cracks, irregular eyes, and off-flavors due to excessive amounts of gas and organic acids produced by...

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Autores principales: Burtscher, Johanna, Rudavsky, Tamara, Zitz, Ulrike, Neubauer, Viktoria, Domig, Konrad J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10221102/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37317311
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11051337
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author Burtscher, Johanna
Rudavsky, Tamara
Zitz, Ulrike
Neubauer, Viktoria
Domig, Konrad J.
author_facet Burtscher, Johanna
Rudavsky, Tamara
Zitz, Ulrike
Neubauer, Viktoria
Domig, Konrad J.
author_sort Burtscher, Johanna
collection PubMed
description Butyric acid producing clostridia (BAPC) cause the so-called late-blowing defect, a serious quality problem in semi-hard and hard cheeses. Late-blown cheeses are characterized by undesired slits and cracks, irregular eyes, and off-flavors due to excessive amounts of gas and organic acids produced by clostridia. Clostridial transfer to raw milk can occur during milking through dirty teats. Therefore, teat cleaning before milking is a key factor in preventing clostridial contamination of the milk. However, different cleaning methods are used, and little information is available on the efficacy of routine teat cleaning in reducing clostridial endospores. The main objectives of this study were to assess the extent of udder contamination with BAPC spores and to investigate the efficacy of routine teat cleaning on BAPC spore counts in milk. In a longitudinal study, eight dairy farms were visited during five sampling events. Clostridial spore counts were quantified from teat skin before and after routine teat cleaning, in pooled quarter milk samples from individual cows, and in bulk tank milk samples using a most probable number method. In addition, farm management data were collected periodically through a survey, and average cow cleanliness was assessed by a veterinarian. On average, teat cleaning resulted in a 0.6 log unit reduction in BAPC spores on teat skin, and a strong positive correlation was found between BAPC spore concentrations on teat skin after cleaning and in pooled quarter milk samples. Seasonal variations and the potential influence of differences in farm management were also noted. Interestingly, average cow cleanliness correlated strongly with BAPC spore levels in milk, suggesting the potential for a quick and rough estimation method of clostridial contamination that could be implemented by farmers.
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spelling pubmed-102211022023-05-28 Importance of Pre-Milking Udder Hygiene to Reduce Transfer of Clostridial Spores from Teat Skin to Raw Milk Burtscher, Johanna Rudavsky, Tamara Zitz, Ulrike Neubauer, Viktoria Domig, Konrad J. Microorganisms Article Butyric acid producing clostridia (BAPC) cause the so-called late-blowing defect, a serious quality problem in semi-hard and hard cheeses. Late-blown cheeses are characterized by undesired slits and cracks, irregular eyes, and off-flavors due to excessive amounts of gas and organic acids produced by clostridia. Clostridial transfer to raw milk can occur during milking through dirty teats. Therefore, teat cleaning before milking is a key factor in preventing clostridial contamination of the milk. However, different cleaning methods are used, and little information is available on the efficacy of routine teat cleaning in reducing clostridial endospores. The main objectives of this study were to assess the extent of udder contamination with BAPC spores and to investigate the efficacy of routine teat cleaning on BAPC spore counts in milk. In a longitudinal study, eight dairy farms were visited during five sampling events. Clostridial spore counts were quantified from teat skin before and after routine teat cleaning, in pooled quarter milk samples from individual cows, and in bulk tank milk samples using a most probable number method. In addition, farm management data were collected periodically through a survey, and average cow cleanliness was assessed by a veterinarian. On average, teat cleaning resulted in a 0.6 log unit reduction in BAPC spores on teat skin, and a strong positive correlation was found between BAPC spore concentrations on teat skin after cleaning and in pooled quarter milk samples. Seasonal variations and the potential influence of differences in farm management were also noted. Interestingly, average cow cleanliness correlated strongly with BAPC spore levels in milk, suggesting the potential for a quick and rough estimation method of clostridial contamination that could be implemented by farmers. MDPI 2023-05-19 /pmc/articles/PMC10221102/ /pubmed/37317311 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11051337 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Burtscher, Johanna
Rudavsky, Tamara
Zitz, Ulrike
Neubauer, Viktoria
Domig, Konrad J.
Importance of Pre-Milking Udder Hygiene to Reduce Transfer of Clostridial Spores from Teat Skin to Raw Milk
title Importance of Pre-Milking Udder Hygiene to Reduce Transfer of Clostridial Spores from Teat Skin to Raw Milk
title_full Importance of Pre-Milking Udder Hygiene to Reduce Transfer of Clostridial Spores from Teat Skin to Raw Milk
title_fullStr Importance of Pre-Milking Udder Hygiene to Reduce Transfer of Clostridial Spores from Teat Skin to Raw Milk
title_full_unstemmed Importance of Pre-Milking Udder Hygiene to Reduce Transfer of Clostridial Spores from Teat Skin to Raw Milk
title_short Importance of Pre-Milking Udder Hygiene to Reduce Transfer of Clostridial Spores from Teat Skin to Raw Milk
title_sort importance of pre-milking udder hygiene to reduce transfer of clostridial spores from teat skin to raw milk
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10221102/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37317311
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11051337
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