Abstract:
The safety of milk production regarding to foodborne diseases is a common problem around
the world, especially in developing countries where production is generally unhygienic. A
cross-sectional study was conducted from December, 2018 to August, 2019 to assess milk
hygiene practice among small and medium holder dairy farms, to estimate prevalence of S.
aureus in raw milk and swabs to assess associated risk factor of S. aureus in raw milk and the
antimicrobial susceptibility test of S.aureus isolates in selected small scale dairy farms in
Meta District of Eastern Hararghe Zone Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. The possible risk
factors for S.aureus contaminations in milk were evaluated face to face interviewed 30
respondents through a structured questionnaire randomly base on their intimate to small dairy
farm. A total of 177 samples (117 raw milk from lactating cow by simple random sampling
technique collected from purposively selected small scale dairy farms and depending on
number of worker, frequencies of farm visit 30 from hand and 30 from material used, total 60
swab samples) were examined using standard microbiological techniques. The antimicrobial
susceptibility test of the isolates (n=39) was also investigated using disc diffusion method. In
the study area with regard to milk hygiene, 80 % of respondents did not wash udder before
milking, did not use detergent to clean milk containers and none of them kept milk in
refrigeration before consumption or sold and 63.3% of milk users had habit of raw milk
consumption. None of them have concept of staphylococci food born disease. Overall,
22.03% (n= 39) of the samples were positive for S. aureus. The prevalence of S. aureus was
18.8% from udder milk and 30 %, and 26.7% from milkers‟ hand, and milking Equipment‟s
swab respectively. The prevalence of S. aureus in milk were statistically significant variation
with respect to age (p = 0.000), parity (P = 0.000) .Udder and leg hygiene (p=0.00) and
history of mastitis (p = 0.04). The isolates were found to be resistant to penicillin G (97.4%),
and Tetracycline (69.2%). The study revealed a prevalence of antimicrobial resistant S. aureus
from raw milk cow, and swabs, poor milk handling practices, raw milk consumption
behaviour in study area. Proper handling and hygiene decrease milk contamination by
S.aureus and make it safe for human consumption.
