Practices of Clean Milk Production, Management and Decent Work in Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan

This study aimed at determining the factors influencing clean milk production in Faisalabad, the third-largest city of Pakistan with more than three million inhabitants. A semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data following a snowball sampling approach. Interviews with each 60 semi-commercial small-scale (SCSS), commercial small-scale (CSS) and commercial large-scale (CLS) peri-urban milk producing households (HH) keeping mixed herds of cattle and buffalo were carried out during February and March, 2018. Interviewed households had a dairying experience of 10 ± 7.1 years. The number of female adult-buffaloes and adult-cattle heads averaged 7.7 ± 6.81 and 7.4 ± 8.01 in SCSS, 10.4 ± 7.13 and 10.4 ± 6.77 in CSS and 17.5 ± 9.81 and 13.6 ± 6.76 in CLS. Average monthly earnings from milk sales from SCSS, CSS and CLS were 70,000, 92,000 and 334,916 Pakistani Rupees (PKR), respectively. There was a significant (P < 0.001) difference between SCSS, CSS and CLS not only in the earnings from milk sales but also in the farm expenses. Twothirds (n = 136) of the farms used traditional cowsheds and only 25 % had modern barns, with significant (P < 0.01) differences between SCSS, CSS and CLS farms with regard to barn design, drainage system and cleaning frequency. Flies were present in >90 % of all farms. Management practices like hair-clipping, hoof-trimming, udder-washing and teat-dipping were significantly (P < 0.01) different between CLS and the other two farm types and were more regularly practiced at CLS than SCSS, CSS farms. About 70 % of the workers did not wash hands before milking, most of them (89 %) did not trim nails, cover their heads (97 %) while milking and carried on milking even when unwell (86 %). The milk cane was hardly disinfected (79.4 %) and milk was mostly (64 %) stored in plastic containers without pre-filtration, whereby a significant difference existed in the container material between the three farm types (P = 0.001). Across the farm types, farmers had little or no knowledge of dairy husbandry practices for clean / hygienic milk production. In conclusion, most of the peri-urban milk in Faisalabad is produced under unhygienic conditions. While some reasons for unhygienic milk production, such as housing conditions and drainage system, are not easy to improve without major investments, systematic use of hygienic dairy management practices such as cleaning of dairy animals, milking equipment and improved workers’ hygiene could easily be adopted and would improve the safety of raw milk in Faisalabad as well as in the other cities of Pakistan. Similarly, improving working conditions plays an important role to enhance food safety. Stable, fair and safe working conditions for dairy farm workers can augment productivity and make work−life balance, as well as food safety better.