12.4.1  Sources of milkborne diseases

Disease organisms in milk are derived from the dairy animal itself, the human handler or the milk-handling environment.

  • What human behaviours might result in milk contamination?

  • Poor personal hygiene by the food handler including activities such as coughing, sneezing or scratching over the milk, and allowing objects, particularly fingers, to come into contact with the milk.

In terms of the environment, the milking and milk-handling processes must be carried out hygienically, avoiding contamination with soil, manure, animal hair or dirt from the cowshed. The milk containers must be clean and disinfected.

12.4  Milk hygiene

12.4.2  Diseases that may be transmitted from milk cows