Overview of the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on the Microbial Safety of the Dairy Industry

Abstract

Climate change is expected to affect many different sectors across the food supply chain. The current review paper presents an overview of the effects of climate change on the microbial safety of the dairy supply chain and suggest potential mitigation strategies to limit the impact. Raw milk, the common raw material of dairy products, is vulnerable to climate change, influenced by changes in average temperature and amount of precipitation. This would induce changes in the microbial profile and heat stress in lactating cows, increasing susceptibility to microbial infection and higher levels of microbial contamination. Moreover, climate change affects the entire dairy supply chain and necessitates adaptation of all the current food safety management programs. In particular, the review of current prerequisite programs might be needed as well as revisiting the current microbial specifications of the receiving dairy products and the introduction of new pretreatments with stringent processing regimes. The effects on microbial changes during distribution and consumer handling also would need to be quantified through the use of predictive models. The development of Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) models, considering the whole farm-to-fork chain to evaluate risk mitigation strategies, will be a key step to prioritize actions towards a climate change-resilient dairy industry.

A metagenomic survey of bacterial communities from kurut: The fermented cow milk in Kyrgyzstan

“…[4] The effects of climate and environmental factors on milk microbiota and dairy products have been previously examined. [28][29][30] In fact, the highest diversity of raw cow milk was investigated in June, while the lowest was in December. [28] The need of thoroughly characterizing the microbial composition of kurut samples in order to develop commercial starting cultures at the industrial scale.…”

“…On the other hand, a recent study put forward the fact that sampling locations accounted for considerable differences in LAB composition rather than milk sources of the dairy products of which effects were quite less [4] . The effects of climate and environmental factors on milk microbiota and dairy products have been previously examined [28–30] . In fact, the highest diversity of raw cow milk was investigated in June, while the lowest was in December [28] …”

Ruminant farmers’ measures for tackling the impacts of climate change on herd health in Anambra State, Nigeria

“…Other challenges (Table 3) farmers encounter in using climate adaptation strategies for ruminant health management were: inadequate storage facilities (x̄ = 3.60; SD = 0.691), high cost of drug (x̄ = 3.28; SD = 0.918), high cost of feed (x̄ = 3.14; SD = 0.929), and inaccessibility of improved breed (x̄ = 2.97; SD = 0.819). Raw milk, a common dairy ruminant product, is vulnerable to climate variability, predisposed by changes in average precipitation and temperature (Feliciano, Boué and Membré, 2020). Farmers in the study area are heavily constrained by the abysmal storage facilities, limiting their ability to store their raw milk and protect its microbial properties properly.…”

Quantitative Associations between Season, Month, and Temperature-Humidity Index with Milk Yield, Composition, Somatic Cell Counts, and Microbial Load: A Comprehensive Study across Ten Dairy Farms over an Annual Cycle

“…Directly, factors such as the THI, which is regarded as the most accurate representation, play an essential role in shifting the milk microbial load [25][26][27]. Moreover, the indirect impact of climate change on milk microbial counts arises from the induction of heat stress in dairy cattle, heightening their vulnerability to pathogenic microbes [28,29].…”