[Hygienic aspects of bovine udders: collection, storage and processing (author's transl)]

The status of hygiene during collection, storage and processing of bovine udders at 73 locations (50 abattoirs, 14 freezing-storage factories and 9 processing plants) was assessed. We found unacceptable low levels of hygiene at the abattoirs. Udders were contaminated during slaughtering by contact with animal skin, unclean tools and the unwashed hands of the personnel. Storage and transport of udders in large containers prevented effective cooling. Bacteriological analysis of deep frozen udder tissue revealed a quality decline as compared to similar analysis directly after slaughtering. Approximately 80 per cent of the samples were found to have an aerobic count of 10(5)-10(7) and 30 per cent of the samples contained 10(3)-10(5) Enterobacteriaceae/g. Frozen samples collected directly before processing revealed practically no increase in bacterial count as compared to counts found in freezing-storage factories.