Microbiological quality assessment of Moroccan camel's milk and identification of predominating lactic acid bacteria

Samples of camel's milk collected from different zones of Morocco were analysed to evaluate their microbiological quality and to identify predominating lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The following average colony-forming units (c.f.u.s) of aerobic total count, enterococci, faecal and total coliforms, LAB, yeasts,Staphylococcus aureus and spores of sulphite-reducing clostridia were recorded: 6.2 × 10⁷, 2.9 × 10⁴, 1.6 × 10⁴, 7.0 × 10⁶, 1.0 × 10⁷, 3.8 × 10⁴, 1.3 × 10⁵ and 6.0 c.f.u./ml, respectively. The enumeration results were markedly variable and coliforms were not detected in 1 ml of some samples. Bacteriological identification revealed a definite dominance of enterococci with Enterococcus faecalis as the main representative species. Besides Enterococcus, other genera including Pediococcus (28.2%), Streptococcus (4%), Lactococcus (8%) and Leuconostoc(1%) were isolated on de Man, Rogosa and Sharp (MRS) agar.