Agriculture and Food Sciences Research

Camel milk is considered one of the most valuable food sources for people in arid and semi-arid areas and is in increasing demand in many European countries and North America. The objective of this study was to investigate the camel milk composition, udder health and effect of different storage times and temperatures on raw milk quality using camel milking machine “StimuLactor” (ST-C). This work was carried out in the department of research and development of Siliconform Türkheim, Germany. Five one-humped dromedary lactating camels were used in this experiment. Milk samples were collected and fat, Protein, Lactose, Somatic cell count (SCC) and Bacterial count (BC) were determined. In none of the tested milk samples pathogenic bacteria could be shown, i.e. all quarters were healthy during the study period. The mean contents of fat, protein, lactose, SCC and BC of milk samples were 2.92±0.07%, 2.28±0.01%, 3.91±0.02%, 126.43±7.21 x 103 cells/ml and 23.88±0.57 x 103 Bacteria/ml, respectively. After 24 h at room temperature or 48 h at 4 degree a refrigerator, storing raw milk samples had no significant changes in the milk composition and –quality. In Conclusion, a good safe raw camel milk with normal composition was obtained if hygienic measures were taken into consideration in the farm and by using the camel milking machine for milk removal. Furthermore, we could store the raw camel milk for 24 h at room temperature or for 48 h in the refrigerated temperature without any hygienic quality problems, and all milk components did not significantly change.