|
Why Hawked Milk Can Save Your Baby
New information about public health and milk marketing has
recently become available from scientists in key research
and development institutions in Kenya. They conducted comprehensive
studies that included the laboratory analysis of hundreds
of hawked and packed milk samples from randomly selected retailers
and households in the country. The studies were conducted
by the Smallholder Dairy (Research and Development) Project
(SDP) and involved scientists from the Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute,
University of Nairobi's Department of Public Health, Pharmacology
and Toxicology and the International Livestock Research Institute.
The Kenya Dairy Board and Kenya Bureau of Standards also participated
in the project. Key findings of the SDP studies were:
- Nearly 90% milk sold in Kenya is never pasteurised. It
is sold either directly to consumers by farmers, or passes
to consumers through small-scale traders, including hawkers.
Dairy farmers (most of whom are smallholders with one or
two cows) therefore depend much more on these traders than
on processors such as Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC).
Training for smallholder farmers and milk traders is therefore
required to ensure that milk is handled hygienically so
that consumers receive good milk.
- Nearly 100% of consumers boiled milk before drinking it
(mostly in the form of tea), thereby eliminating all risks
from harmful bacteria. Public health threats from any bacterial
contamination of hawked milk are therefore routinely eliminated
by the consumer practice of boiling milk before consumption.
- Only 10% of hawked milk tested was found to be adulterated
with water; most cases occurred in the dry season when milk
shortages occur. The widespread claims that all hawked milk
is adulterated were therefore not supported by evidence.
- Consumers buy raw milk because it is cheaper by 20 to
50% than pasteurised milk in most parts of the country,
and because consumers regard it as higher quality than standardised
pasteurised milk.
- A major health risk that was identified was the large
number (up to 15%) of both packed and raw milk samples that
contained antibiotic residues. The negative implications
of this are that over time, there is the possibility of
the development of drug resistance, and that the common,
cheap antibiotics that are used to treat various ailments
will no longer be effective. That would mean resorting to
new and more expensive antibiotics for treatment. This is
a scenario that should certainly be avoided, especially
for a poor country such as Kenya. Again training is required,
particularly of dairy farmers and veterinary assistants
and drug suppliers.
Current legislation for the dairy industry used for regulating
the sale of raw milk dates back to the 1950s, when dairy farming
and marketing in urban areas in Kenya was dominated by large-scale
European settler farmers and KCC. The situation is now completely
different and demands both appropriate legislation that is
more inclusive and a concerted training programme to ensure
hygienic milk production and marketing practices.
The researchers rightly point out that the competition amongst
alternative milk market channels in a liberalised Kenya should
be fought on the basis of both price and quality, and not
on false perceptions of health threats from consuming milk.
It is important for the health and development of Kenyan children
that they are encouraged to drink milk, and more of it, contributing
to an adequate intake of micronutrients, protein and energy.
Your baby will be much safer consuming boiled hawked milk
than not consuming milk at all - the choice that prices and
buying power dictate for many Kenyans.
|
