REGULATION AND AUDIT ASSOCIATED RESEARCH – PROGRESS IN THIRD QUARTER.

PRJ-0339: The significance of Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms and E. Coli in milk in the SA market with the aim of updating microbial specifications in R1555 of 1997 (Act 54 of 1972)

Background: Regulation 1555 is under revision and there appears to be a notion to follow international trends to specify only Enterobacteriaceae and not coliforms and E. coli. We are not convinced that this is in the best interest of the industry and therefore the aim of the project is to measure the status of these organisms in milk.

Progress: Monitoring occurred between 2018 and 2022 in all provinces and seasons with packaging also as a further variable. The statistical analysis is in progress and preliminary results on pasteurised milk showed that 54% of samples were within the specified criteria for coliforms of <10 cfu/ml (R1555), 88% for E. coli (absent according to R1555), 58% were compliant for total plate count (<5000 cfu/ml – R1555), and 68% were within the specification for Enterobacteriaceae of <100cfu/ml according to R1555. In terms of packaging, coliform counts were significantly higher in sachets compared to plastic bottles and boxes. Vitek MS identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing of the Enterobacteriaceae and E. coli positive samples are in progress.

PRJ-0358: Impact of good agricultural practice interventions on the SA Dairy Industry.

Progress:

• In-depth literature review on the effect / impact of different GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) on dairy production systems is ongoing.
• Research on sustainability evaluation models such as Response-Inducing Sustainability Evaluation (RISE), a tool for holistic sustainability assessment at farm level, has been initiated to be used as a measuring instrument to determine whether or not the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), along with the DSA audit criteria used for verification of compliance, contribute towards Milk SA’s Sustainability Development Goals.
• Forty onsite assessment of dairy production facilities in South Africa against the DSA GAP Assessment Audits criterion was completed and eight sustainability evaluations utilising the RISE framework is in process of being uploaded.
• Raw milk samples are collected per region for analysis. On farm collection of milk samples, analyses and data capturing will continue and be completed by the end of 2023.