Indigenous Markets for Dairy Products in Africa: Trade-offs between food safety and economics

From the paper's conclusions
The key findings in Kenya include:

• Consumers generally prefer whole raw milk, even those who can afford pasteurised milk;
  
• More than half of samples exceed bacterial count and coliform count standards, but nearly all consumers boil milk before consumption, eliminating any bacterial threat to health;
  
• Anti-microbial residues were found in many samples, and since they are not destroyed by pasteurisation, they may pose the major long-term public health threat in milk;
  
• Small mobile vendors use poor quality containers, mainly due to policies that exclude them from applying for licensing;
  
• Regardless, the quality of milk they deliver does not differ significantly from those with fixed premises and licenses.

Findings from Ghana and Tanzania, still being completed, indicate similar results. The Kenyan policy to attempt to implement strict international milk quality standards is clearly not working, and further, attempts to police small mobile traders may actually reduce milk quality, by forcing them to use cheap containers due to frequent confiscation. A fundamental factor in determining trade-offs between milk safety and economics in traditional and emerging dairy markets is how to ensure that consumers are being supplied by milk that is 'safe' by the standards considered appropriate by them. Public contribution here should be through education to allow informed choices. This would allow consumers to make informed choices to allow the battle between formal and informal milk markets to be fought on the basis of quality and price and not on perceived health risks which are in any case significantly reduced or eliminated by the common practice of boiling milk before consumption. A policy of training and certification of small traders, allowing them to operate legally, is likely to result in both higher milk quality and better service to consumer preferences.