Bacterial diseases - The impact of milk processing to reduce risks

Raw milk in the farm vat is inevitably contaminated with a range of bacteria, some of which may be human or animal pathogens. Management of animal health, feed quality, milking hygiene, and the avoidance of raw milk consumption are key on-farm measures to reduce the potential pathogen load and associated health risks. The assurance of food safety will increasingly depend on a partnership between these on-farm animal measures and both established and novel processing technologies. The development of pasteurization and the current state of knowledge about this process are discussed. There are several alternative processing methods to remove or inactivate bacteria that can be used either singly, or in combination. Great care must be taken when developing new dairy food processes to ensure that any reduction of bacteriostatic or bactericidal hurdles does not compromise product safety. The rapidly developing field of risk analysis gives a sound scientific basis for evaluating all these technologies for their use with appropriate dairy foods.