Professional Approaches to Milk Quality Improvement in the Informal Dairy Sector of Kebbi State

This study evaluates professional approaches for improving milk quality in the informal dairy sector of Kebbi State, located in Nigeria's North West geopolitical zone. The informal dairy sector in Kebbi State supplies a large proportion of fresh milk consumed in the state but operates largely outside regulatory oversight, with quality challenges including microbial contamination, adulteration with water, and absence of cold chain facilities. Using a professional intervention design, baseline milk quality data were collected from 80 milk samples from street vendors and market traders in Birnin Kebbi metropolis. Total viable count, coliform count, somatic cell count, and adulteration testing were performed at baseline. A three-month capacity building programme covering hygienic milking, container sanitation, rapid cooling, and adulteration prevention was implemented with 40 enrolled vendors. Post-intervention milk quality testing was repeated on 80 samples from trained vendors and 40 from untrained controls. Findings at baseline revealed 90 percent of samples exceeding acceptable total viable counts and 60 percent adulterated with water. Post-intervention, trained vendor milk showed significantly improved total viable count (45% reduction) and reduced adulteration incidence (from 58 to 21%). The study demonstrates that targeted capacity building can produce measurable milk quality improvements in the informal sector and recommends scaling the programme statewide with integration into formal dairy regulatory frameworks in Kebbi State. Keywords: milk quality, informal dairy, Kebbi State, food safety, capacity building.