Investigation of the impact of simulated commercial centrifugation and microfiltration conditions on levels of Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis in milk

• Published in: International journal of dairy technology 2005-08, Vol.58 (3), p.138-142
• Main Authors: Grant, I.R, Williams, A.G, Rowe, M.T, Muir, D.D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: bacterial contamination; Biological and medical sciences; Centrifugation; food contamination; Food industries; food microbiology; food pathogens; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; heat treatment; Laboratory simulations; Microfiltration; Milk and cheese industries. Ice creams; Milk processing; Mycobacterium avium; Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis; Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis; pretreatment; raw milk; whole milk
• ISSN: 1364-727X; 1471-0307
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-0307.2005.00201.x

The potential for physical removal of Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (M. paratuberculosis) from milk by centrifugation and microfiltration was investigated by simulating commercial processing conditions in the laboratory by means of a microcentrifuge and syringe filters, respectively. Results indicated that both centrifugation of preheated milk (60°C) at 7000 × g for 10 s, and microfiltration through a filter of pore size 1.2 µm, were capable of removing up to 95–99.9% of M. paratuberculosis cells from spiked whole milk and Middlebrook 7H9 broth suspensions, respectively. Centrifugation and microfiltration may therefore have potential application within the dairy industry as pretreatments to reduce M. paratuberculosis contamination of raw milk.