J. J. Dragoni-Rosado^1,, H. M. Ramirez-Ortiz¹, A. González-Mederos¹, A. E. Pérez-Matos²

Due to its nutritional value and physicochemical characteristics, milk is susceptible to detrimental and pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore, the dairy industry needs to control the factors that pose risks to the safety and quality of the product. Thus, a microbiological analysis of the air was carried out in the milking area of two dairy farms in Puerto Rico. Triplicate air samples were collected from May to September 2021. The results showed that farm B had higher bacteria concentrations in most months. Sixty-three genera of bacteria were identified among all the samples collected from both farms using MALDI-TOF MS. Additionally, several important sanitary bacteria were detected in the samples, albeit at a low frequency. In conclusion, the results of this study demonstrate that the concentration of microorganisms in the air of milking areas can be influenced by different factors, such as the location of the farm, as well as temperature and relative humidity. Furthermore, MALDI-TOF MS proved to be a helpful and fast technique for identifying the isolated bacteria in the samples.

milk, food microbiology, environmental microbiology, milking area, environment