Microbial quality of water buffalo milk and milk products in Germany

The keeping of water buffalos in Germany is a small, but rapidly growing economic sector and the number of buffalos is rising every year. Besides producing buffalo meat, some farms also produce and sell buffalo milk and milk products. To provide an overview of the quality of buffalo milk and milk products in Germany, selected products (raw and pasteurised milk, pasteurised whey, yoghurt, curd cheese and mozzarella cheese) were examined monthly from June to September 2006. Besides sensory testing and determination of several chemico-physical parameters, the main focus of this study was to evaluate the microbial quality. Therefore, the total aerobic bacterial count was determined and products were tested for yeasts and other fungi, Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., Listeria monocytogenes as well as Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus agalactiae. Chemico-physical parameters were in the expected range and all products were of good sensory quality. Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., L. monocytogenes, Staph. aureus and Str. agalactiae were not recovered from any product. Very low counts of Bacillus cereus were detected in two samples of the same batch of pasteurised milk. However, there were high counts of aerobic mesophilic bacteria, enterobacteria and E. coli in several samples.