Milk: Exceptional food with risk of public health

Abstract

The agri-business milk occupies long prominent space in the world economy. This agro-industrial system is one of the most expressive in Brazil because of its great social importance. Mastitis, a mammary gland inflammatory process, is the most important disease of dairy herds, due to the decrease of production and quality of the milk and dairies causing high economic losses. The purpose of this paper was to point out the zoonotic potential of the common and emergent mastitis pathogens. It was discussed the hazard to public health represented by transmission by the consume of milk and/or dairies contaminated by mastitis etiological agents and/or their toxins, some of them psycotrofics and while others showing high heat-resistance and, multi-antimicrobial resistant microorganisms. Food-borne outbreaks associated to consume of milk and dairies have being registered in many countries, caused by important mastitis etiological agents: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes. The risk to Public Health due to milk and dairies consume can occurr at herd level, processing and manufacturing as well as distribution and marketing. At the production level, there were the sanitary problems of dairy herd, due to lack of veterinary assistance, fails in the diagnostic and prevention of mastitis and other diseases, milking and management deficiencies, and hygienic conditions of the environment and milking and refrigeration equipment. At the processing and industrialization the main problems use to be fails of pasteurization treatments and careless manipulation causing contamination by zoonotic pathogens, as well as, milk adulteration and frauds.