Dissemination of Best Practices in Milking Associated With Better Milk Quality

Introduction

The worldwide production of milk in 2021, even after considering the problems faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, presented a slight increase of 1.1%, reaching 887 million tons. This increase is attributed to the expansion in production in India and Pakistan as a result of the continual increase in the number of dairy herds, as well as availability of forage aided by favorable monsoon rains (OECD/FAO,2022).

However, the importation of dairy products does not follow the same pattern of growth, especially in the question of powdered milk, owing to problems linked to markets closure due to COVID, physical distance between countries, economic depression, along with falls in the price of petroleum. The worldwide production of milk breaks down as follows 81% derived from cows, 15% from buffalos and 4% from a combination of goats, sheep and camels. The United States, India, Brazil and Germany are the highest milk producers worldwide, while New Zealand, the European Union and the United States are the main dairy exporters. The increases in world dairy trade were pushed mainly by the strong demand in the People’s Republic of China (henceforth “China”), the highest worldwide importer of dairy products (OECD/FAO, 2020, 2022).

China, even under pressure from COVID, has been working since 2018 in the consolidation of its countrywide dairy production, and through such has improved reliability and efficiency in its scale of production, via the implemented standardization. These factors have produced an increase in the internal consumption of milk from 2020, along with generating consumer confidence regarding the product (OECD/FAO,2021).

In the case of Brazil, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the industry and activity of dairy production produces an important economic and social contribution in Brazil, where it is considered as the fifth largest milk producer worldwide with an estimated 25.5 billion liters being industrialized in Brazil, in 2020 alone. This activity presents itself as one of the principle economic sources of the country, as it plays a significant role in generating employment and income, with the highest percentage of small and medium producers in the dairy production chain. In consonance with the aforementioned, there are an estimated one million dairy producers in the field, who collectively generate millions of jobs along the various segments of the expanded chain. These factors constitute greatly toward the structuring of the rural economy, as well as providing support to the livelihoods of farmers (OECD/FAO, 2021).

Dairy farming plays a significant role toward social economic development. Across the whole world, around 150 million families work in the production of milk. The majority of these consist of smallholder farmers in developing countries, where this is the main activity for their livelihoods (OECD/FAO, 2021).

Dairy products are, by nature, highly perishable, with an inherent variation in milk collection throughout the year, along with a large number of small producers, which makes the production chain a highly complex one. However, a closer look at the industry reveals a lack of standardization in dairy production, with problems attached to primary processes, such as the cleaning of equipment and production sites, along with vaccination control and antibiotic application. These factors lead to a low quality in Brazilian produce, and as such investments are necessary for improvements to the milk management chain, aimed at the development and planning of production (sales and operation), which are seen as fundamental for meeting the demand for dairy products (Tinoco & Freitas, 2014; Tinoco et al., 2015).

Milk quality requirements in Brazil established by Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) at NI 76 (MAPA, 2018a) and 77 (MAPA, 2018b), limit parameters in farm raw milk for individual or community tank quarterly geometric averages should, from 01 June of 2019, to Standard Plate Count (SPC) (the old Total Bacteria Count - TBC) limit to 300 thousand CFU/mL and SCC lower than 500 cells/mL. Since 2011 up to 2019, accordance with the Normative Instruction 62 (MAPA, 2011), the Somatic Cell Count (SCC) maximum limits was 600 thousand CFU/mL and 600 thousand cells/mL, in the South, Southeast and Center East of Brazil. In European Union (EU), since 1992, permits a TBC of maximum 100 thousand CFU/mL at 30 ºC and an SCC maximum of 400 thousand cells/mL (Berry et al., 2006).