CHAPTER SEVEN

HYGIENE OF POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS FOODS

 Learning objectives

 At the end of the chapter, the students will able to:

 Define and identify potentially hazardous food
 Explain the sanitary practices and hygienic production of PHF
 Know the different methods to make these group of food safe
 Identify diseases associated with consumption of these foods
if contaminated
 Demonstrate different laboratory tests to check their quality

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 Potentially Hazardous Foods
 Are those foods that provide suitable conditions for rapid growth of
microorganisms.
 These include foods that are high in protein and high moisture content.
 Need high care at all stages of food production chain.

 Milk & its products

 Meat
 Fish
 Poultry
 Egg
 Etc

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 Part I

MILK HYGIENE

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 Introduction

 Milk is the first natural food of all young

mammals immediately after birth.
 The lacteal secretion of the mammary glands of
a mammal, obtained by the complete milking of
one or more healthy cows The food value of milk
depends upon:
 milk fat
 milk solids-not-fat content
 If either of these contents is reduced its
composition also affected.

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 Composition of Milk
 Milk is most nearly perfect food.
 It doesn’t have Sufficient amount of Vitamin C & D and
Iron.
 The composition of milk is extremely complex.
 Water – principal constituent
 Proteins - Casein, Lacto albumin and Lacto globulin
 Sugar – Lactose
 Fats – 25 fatty acids (olein, palanitin and stearin)
 Highly variable
 Minerals - Ca, P, Na, K, Mg, Cl, SO4, Cu, Mn, I, Zn, Fe
 Vitamins- A, B2, B1, E, C, D
 Enzymes – Phosphatase, Lipase, Lactase
 Gases – CO2, O2, N2

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Percentage composition of milk of different food animals

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 Physical Properties of Milk

 They are influenced by the composition of milk.

 They are also a great help in the processing and testing
of milk for adulteration.
 The major physical properties of milk are:
 Color
 Specific gravity- 1.027-1.035 (lactometer)
 Freezing point- -0.55°C (Cryoscopy)
 Boiling point- 100.17°C (thermometer)
 pH- 6.5 -6.8 (pH meter, pH colorimeter)

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 Milk Products
 Some of the common milk products that are made locally
or commercially from whole milk are:
 Cream
 Curd
 Whey
 Cheese
 Butter
 Ghee
 Margarine

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 What is milk hygiene?

 It is a study of all the methods necessary to ensure the

production, handling, and final delivery to the consumer
of clean, wholesome and unadulterated milk or milk
products.

 Purpose of milk hygiene

Provision of safe and wholesome milk and its products
for the consumers.

 To prevent contamination of milk proper practices should

be followed from production to consumption.

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 Sanitary practices to be done during Production
 Sources of contamination
1. Contamination from human discharge and wastes
Construction of a proper waste disposal system
Prevention of human discharge and wastes from
contacting animals and milk
Practices of good personal hygiene
Segregation of animals from human habitation
2. Contamination from air borne dust & droplets
Proper construction of the milking area
Sneezing or coughing away from milking containers during
milking
Provision of clean surroundings and avoidance of dusty
conditions during milking

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 Sanitary practices to be done during Production
3. Contamination from animal bodies, hides, udder and teats
Clipping, brushing, cleansing and sanitizing before milking
4. Milk containers (milking utensils & dirty water )
Proper washing and storing of milking containers
Using proper and easily cleanable utensils
Using only safe water for washing and cleaning
5. Milk handlers and milkers
Keeping the milker’s level of personal hygiene high
Washing of hands with detergents before milking
The milker should always wear clean garments while milking
6. Diseased cows
Detecting and isolating affected animals
Veterinary inspection and supervision of animals
Treatment and vaccination of animals.
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 Sanitary Requirements for Dairy Farms

 In addition, the cleanliness of the following places should

be kept clean:
 Animals shelter (Barn, cowshed)
 Milking place
 Milk storing place

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 Milk-borne diseases
 Milk is an excellent food for man but it is an ideal medium for
the growth of micro-organisms.
 From the time milk leaves the udder of the animal, unless
adequate safeguards are maintained, it may receive bacteria
and other micro-organisms from the surroundings.

 Diseases resulting from  Diseases transmitted from

infected carriers infected cows
Typhoid & paratyphoid Tuberculosis (bovine)
fever Undulant fever (Brucellosis)
Tuberculosis (human) Anthrax
Diphtheria Q-fever
Scarlet fever Mastitis (bovine)
Foot & mouth disease

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 Methods of making milk safe

 The most common method of treating raw milk

is by regulating the temperature.
 There are at least five methods of treating
milk.
Boiling
Sterilization
Drying
Cooling &
Pasteurization

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 Boiling

 This is the easiest and most practicable method of

making milk safe in every home.
 It is raising the T° of the milk to boiling point and
maintaining the milk at this temperature for a few
minutes.
 Then the milk should be immediately cooled.
 If it has to be stored the temperature should be
maintained below 40°F.
 Disadvantages
It affects the nutritive value of milk, its flavour and palatability
and appearance.

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 Sterilization

 In this process milk is heated to destroy all micro-

organisms including spore forming.
 It can only be done by keeping the milk at a temperature
above normal boiling point for at least 20 minutes.

 Disadvantages
Change in the taste of the milk
Affects nutritive value of the milk

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 Drying
 This is a method by which the entire water constituent is
removed from the milk by evaporation.
 The solids remaining form milk powder (dry milk).
 Milk powder can then be made into liquid milk by adding a
proper amount of water.
 There are two known methods of drying:
1. Roller drying
2. Spray drying
 Drawbacks
Not a simple operation (untouchable at home)
Needs special equipment and arrangement

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 Cooling

 Is the process by which keeping the milk at 40°F or below

starting immediately after milking.
 This temperature range is essentially needed to arrest the
growth of micro-organisms specially Brucella organisms.
 However milk should not be allowed to freeze.
 This is very important especially if milk is going to be
delivered raw to consumers.

 Drawback
Doesn’t kill microbes

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 Pasteurization

 The process of heating every particle of milk and milk

products to a predetermined temperature and holding
this temperature for a predetermined time.
 Pasteurization:
 Destructs:
All pathogenic micro-organisms
A good number of other non-pathogenic and non-spore
forming bacteria and certain undesirable enzymes
 Keeps the nutritive value of the milk

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 Pasteurization

 Objectives of Pasteurization

 It has three objectives:

to ensure that all pathogenic micro-organisms
commonly found in milk are completely destroyed.
to safeguard the food value of milk
to ensure that other non-pathogenic bacteria and
certain undesirable enzymes, which may cause
spoilage, are inactivated or reduced to optimal levels

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 Pasteurization
 Basically pasteurization of milk involves three essential
steps:
 Heating raw milk to a predetermined temperature
 Holding at this temperature for a predetermined time
 Immediately cooling down to at least below 40°F

 two most important variables are:

 Pasteurization temperature &
 Exposure or holding time

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 Methods of Pasteurization of Milk

1. The holding or vat method

 Is a method of holding the milk in a vat (container) to a
temperature of 63°C (145°F) for 30 minutes.
2. The high temperature-short time method
 Milk is rapidly brought to a temperature of 71°C (161°F) and
heated continuously for 15 seconds.
3. The ultra-high temperature (UHT) method
 In this method the milk is heated to at least 88°C (191°F) for at
1-2 seconds.

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 Pasteurization

 Milk is said to be properly pasteurized it must satisfy the

following three conditions:
The milk must be cooled adequately (50°F or less) before
pasteurization so as to prevent the formation of heat
resistant staphylococcal enterotoxin.
The pasteurization equipment should function properly and
adequately.
Precautions should be taken to prevent any post
pasteurization contamination.

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 Pasteurization

 Limitations
It can only be effectively done on a commercial basis
It requires special and expensive equipment and budget
It requires skilled technicians to operate

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 Milk Testing

 The laboratory examination of milk is one of the most

valuable and necessary aids to the overall milk quality
control program.
 The laboratory tests are used to:
 Know the chemical composition
 Determine the bacteriological quality
 Check the presence of extraneous substances
 Check the effectiveness of pasteurization of a sample milk

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 Microbial milk testing

 There are four methods of determination of

microorganisms in food.
1. Standard plate counts for viable cells
2. The most probable numbers method as a statically
determination of viable cells
3. Dye reduction techniques to estimate numbers of
viable cells that posses reducing capacities
4. Direct microscopic counts for both viable and non
viable cells

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 Common Tests of Milk Quality
1. The alcohol- alizarin test
 This test is used to know the acidity of milk
 Procedure:
 Take about 5 ml of milk in a test tube
 Add equal amount of alcohol alizarin solution (0.2%)
 Mix the contents well
 Observe for presence of flakes and color of the contents

Parameter Normal milk Slightly acid Acid milk Alkaline milk

milk
pH 6.6 – 6.7 6.4 – 6.6 ≤ 6.3 ≥ 6.8
Color Red brown Yellowish Yellow Lilac
brown
Appearance No No Coagulation No
of milk coagulation coagulation coagulation
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 Common Tests of Milk Quality
2. Methylene-blue reduction test
 Is used to determine the bacterial quality of raw milk.
 It involves determination of time required for the
disappearance of color when methylene blue thiocynate
solution is added to raw milk
 Procedure
 In a test tube add 10 ml of milk
 Add 1 ml of standard methylene blue solution
 The sample is mixed and placed either in a hot water bath or in
an incubator at 35-37°C
 Observations are made at intervals of 15 – 20 minutes for an 8
hour period

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 Common Tests of Milk Quality

 Milk with a high bacterial content will decolorize the dye quite
rapidly whereas milk with low bacterial content retains the
blue color for several hours.
 Based on this test, milk can be graded as follows:
 Excellent: very low bacterial count
- Its decolorized time is about 8 hours
 Good: low bacterial count
- Decolourization time is 6 – 8 hours
 Fair: high bacterial count.
- Decolourization time is 2 – 6 hours
 Poor: very high bacterial count
- Decolourization time is below 2 hours

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 Common Tests of Milk Quality

3. Resazurin test
 Is the most widely used test for hygiene and the potential
keeping quality of raw milk.
 Resazurin can be carried out in different time ranges:
1. The 10 min resazurin test
 Is useful and rapid, screening test used at the milk
platform
2. The 1 hr & 3 hr tests
 Provide more accurate information about the milk
quality, but after a fairly long time.
 They usually carried out in the laboratory

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 Common Tests of Milk Quality
 Procedures
 Add 10 mls of milk into a sterile test tube
 Add 1 ml resazurin solution
 Stopper with a sterile stopper and mix gently the dye into the
milk
 Mark the test tube and incubate it
 Interpretation
Color Grade of milk Remark
Blue Excellent Accept
Light blue Very good Accept
Purple Good Accept
Purple pink Fair Separate
Light pink Poor Separate
Pink Bad Reject
White Very bad Reject 32
 Common Tests of Milk Quality

4. Lactometer test and Freezing point determination

 Both tests are used to detect adulteration of milk.
 The lactometer test is designed to detect the changes in
density.
 Cryoscopy is used to measure the freezing point of milk which
is -0.55°C for normal milk.

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 Common Tests of Milk Quality

5. Inhibitor test
 Used to check the presence of chemicals in milk.
 Milk collected from producers may contain drugs or pesticide
residues.
 These when present in significant amounts in milk may inhibit
the growth of lactic acid bacteria used in the manufacture of
milk products like cheese, besides being a health hazard.
 The suspected milk sample is subjected to a fermentation test
with starter culture and the acidity checked after three hours.
 The value of the acidity obtained is compared with acidity of a
similarity treated sample, which is free from any inhibitory
substance.

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 Common Tests of Milk Quality
Procedure
 Three test tubes are filled with 10 ml of sample to be tested and
three test tubes filled with normal milk
 All tubes are heated to 90°C by putting them in boiling water for
3-5 minutes
 After cooling to optimum temperature of the starter culture, 1 ml
of starter culture is added to each test tube, mixed and
incubated for 3 hours.
 After each hour, one test tube from the test sample and the
control sample is determined
 If acid production in suspected sample is the same as the
normal sample, then the suspected sample does not contain
any inhibitory substances
 If acid production in suspected sample is less than in the
normal milk sample, then the suspected sample contains
antibiotics or other inhibitory substance 35
 Common Tests of Milk Quality

6. Phosphatase test
 This test is used to determine the efficiency of
pasteurization.
 The test depends up on the hydrolysis of a disodium
phenyl phosphate to form phenol and phosphate.
 The addition of BQC(Dibromo Quimone Chloramines)
causes a blue colour reaction to occur with the phenol.
 The presence of Phosphatase is demonstrated by a blue
reaction while the destruction of Phosphatase by proper
pasteurization fails to produce a blue colour.

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 Common Tests of Milk Quality

 The intensity of colour is measured by a colorimeter.

 If no Phosphatase, it indicates that the milk was
adequately heated
 But if is present, it means that pasteurization was
incomplete or that raw milk has been added to
pasteurized milk.

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