Effect of Sisal Foil Wrapped Milk Containers on Quality Parameters of Camel Milk Marketed in Borana Zone, Southern Ethiopia
The study was designed to evaluate effectiveness of Sisal foil wrapped milk containers on enhancing shelf life of the camel milk that was transported long distance in Borana zone. Hence, the primary lactodency meter test indicated the specific gravity of camel milk ranged from 1.020-1.022 at 20°c lactodency meter. At farm gate samples were negative for alcohol test that insured its freshness. All the samples in wrapped containers stayed negative for both alcohol and cloton- boiling test at the terminal market, whereas, the rest were positive for alcohol test. Resazurin test revealed that the entire samples didn’t show any significant variation in color change during the first 10min. After one hour of incubation, however, sample in new plastic container exposed to sun light was totally changed to pink followed by in local most exposed container that was changed to whitish pink only after 3hours of incubation. The sample in new plastic container that was most exposed to sun light cultured highest microbial load (6 x 105) followed by sample in local most exposed container (4 x 105) where as none of the sample in wrapped containers harbored significant load (4 x 105). The result of the study enabled us to conclude that wrapping the container has a paramount importance in maintaining the quality of milk transported long distance exposed to sun light. Hence, all the participants responsible for milk quality monitoring and enhancement have to be strengthened and scale up this technology.
