Evaluation of bacterial contamination in raw and heated milks from different farms / Sharifah Nur Amalina Syed Salleh

Milk has been consumed since a long time ago as a source of nourishment. The rising cases of diseases related to milk-borne bacteria contaminating the raw milk have been very alarming recently. This project is done to determine the bacterial contamination in raw and boiled milk samples taken from different farms. Different selective media were used in this study to detect the presence of E. coli, Salmonella sp. and Staphylococcus aureus in the milk samples. Gram staining was done and the bacteria were observed to identify their morphology. Biochemical tests were then performed to further characterize the isolates. There is no contamination of E. coli recorded in all of the samples. However, most raw milk samples contain high number of coliforms, Salmonella sp. and Staphylococcus aureus. It is then found that raw milk samples taken from Farm 1contain the highest bacterial contamination. Therefore, it showed that consuming raw milk can cause harmful effects due to the presence of bacterial contamination in the milk.