Microbiological Quality of Typical Traditional Fermented Milk from Northern Uganda and Western Kenya

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Yoghurt is a popular product of dairy industry. Traditional fermented milk, such as the yoghurt made at farms has high relevance for different consumer segments in Africa. Yoghurt produced in non-controlled condition has high food safety risks. Analysis of microbial parameters of these products can provide important data and information. Therefore, the topic of manuscript dairy-2431173 can be considered as interesting and can provide useful information not just for the science but also for the practice. The manuscript has a logic structure. Introduction section summarizes well the background of the research, the gap in the knowledge, the relevance of the study and the specific aims of the research. The applied methods for analytical measurements and microbial analysis are adequate and described clearly and in details. The manuscript contains novel and significant results that are illustrated well and discussed in details with relevant references. Practical suggestions are defined to achieve higher microbial safety of the product. Manuscript needs some minor corrections and revision to make it more complete and clear (see my comments).

 

Comments, suggestions:

#1: Please discuss briefly the most important/high risk microorganisms (and their relevance related to food safety) in the Introduction section, as well.

#2: Please give title (line 28) for the first section of the Manuscript (Introduction).

#3: Please use brackets/parentheses consequently in the tables, as well (see Table 1, line 2).

#4: Please use the capital and small letters consequently in the text (mainly for bacteria).

#5: The 4. and 5. columns have the same title in Table 1.

 

Author Response

Yoghurt is a popular product of dairy industry. Traditional fermented milk, such as the yoghurt made at farms has high relevance for different consumer segments in Africa. Yoghurt produced in non-controlled condition has high food safety risks. Analysis of microbial parameters of these products can provide important data and information. Therefore, the topic of manuscript dairy-2431173 can be considered as interesting and can provide useful information not just for the science but also for the practice. The manuscript has a logic structure. Introduction section summarizes well the background of the research, the gap in the knowledge, the relevance of the study and the specific aims of the research. The applied methods for analytical measurements and microbial analysis are adequate and described clearly and in details. The manuscript contains novel and significant results that are illustrated well and discussed in detail with relevant references. Practical suggestions are defined to achieve higher microbial safety of the product. Manuscript needs some minor corrections and revision to make it more complete and clearer (see my comments).

Comments, suggestions:

#1: Please discuss briefly the most important/high risk microorganisms (and their relevance related to food safety) in the Introduction section, as well.

Response to reviewer’s suggestions:

This has been discussed in the Introduction as suggested.  And the most important bacteria iscussed.

#2: Please give title (line 28) for the first section of the Manuscript (Introduction).

• Introduction (It was given)

#3: Please use brackets/parentheses consequently in the tables, as well (see Table 1, line 2).  Done

#4: Please use the capital and small letters consequently in the text (mainly for bacteria).  Done

#5: The 4. and 5. columns have the same title in Table 1. Reviewed and adjusted.

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript (MS) entitled "Microbiological Quality of Typical Traditional Yoghurt from Northern Uganda and Western Kenya" sought to evaluate the quality of yogurt samples from Northern Uganda and Western Kenya. The proposal is interesting, considering these regions' low number of studies. In addition, the writing is easy to understand, and they use a lot of references to discuss and approach the subjects. However, some serious methodology and data treatment issues need to be reviewed. For example, the time for carrying out the analyses is very close, making it practically impossible to know how the microbiological behavior would be in a long time, normally used to store yogurt samples. In addition, the lack of statistical treatment in the results is a factor that limits the research. In addition, some specific questions need to be reviewed/answered:

 

1. Introduction

1.1. Line 43-44: The way the authors write it implies that yogurt is produced by any strain of LAB that ferments milk. However, to be considered yogurt, the milk must be fermented by S. thermophillus, and L. delbrueck subsp. bulgaricus. This information needs to be rewritten.

1.2. Add the purpose of the study at the end of the introduction.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Line 58. Was the object of study fermented milk or yogurt? They are different dairy products. Writing needs to be standardized.

2.2. Line 61: The word ice is not required

3. Table 1. In the fourth and fifth column, the unit of measurement "ºC" must be placed in the column title, for example "Growth condition and incubation Temperature (ºC), and excluded from the other lines

4. Table 2. Statistical treatment of results may facilitate interpretation.

5. Table 3. It is more usual to express the results in Log/UFC, in addition to being necessary for statistical treatment.

Author Response

The manuscript (MS) entitled "Microbiological Quality of Typical Traditional Yoghurt from Northern Uganda and Western Kenya" sought to evaluate the quality of yogurt samples from Northern Uganda and Western Kenya. The proposal is interesting, considering these regions' low number of studies. In addition, the writing is easy to understand, and they use a lot of references to discuss and approach the subjects. However, some serious methodology and data treatment issues need to be reviewed. For example, the time for carrying out the analyses is very close, making it practically impossible to know how the microbiological behaviour would be in a long time, normally used to store yogurt samples. In addition, the lack of statistical treatment in the results is a factor that limits the research. In addition, some specific questions need to be reviewed/answered:

RESPONSE TO REVIEW 2 COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS

 

Thus, the study was meant to assess the microbiological quality of the fermented milk when it is considered ready for consumption rather than the long time.  It is within this that health and safety is considered at danger.  However, the impact of storage on the most important pathogenic bacteria was considered during the study although initially not presented it was thought to be outside the objective of the assessment.  In this review, the data collected during storage was included and statistically analysed.

1. Introduction

1.1. Line 43-44: The way the authors write it implies that yogurt is produced by any strain of LAB that ferments milk. However, to be considered yogurt, the milk must be fermented by S. thermophillus, and L. delbrueck subsp. bulgaricus. This information needs to be rewritten.

This was re-written to read ‘traditional fermented milk’ instead of yoghurt. 

1.2. Add the purpose of the study at the end of the introduction.  Aim of the study was added

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Line 58. Was the object of study fermented milk or yogurt? They are different dairy products. Writing needs to be standardized. The product is fermented milk.

2.2. Line 61: The word ice is not required.  The word ‘ice’ was removed.

3. Table 1. In the fourth and fifth column, the unit of measurement "ºC" must be placed in the column title, for example "Growth condition and incubation Temperature (ºC), and excluded from the other lines. The unit ^oC and h were removed from the other lines and left at the heading only.
4. Table 2. Statistical treatment of results may facilitate interpretation. The results were computed to log cfu/ml and statistical analysis was carried out accordingly.
5. Table 3. It is more usual to express the results in Log/UFC, in addition to being necessary for statistical treatment.

Table 3 was expressed as log cfu/ml and data translated so for statistical analysis.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript has an interesting and relevant topic. It provides useful information for the practice, as well. Authors have revised the manuscript thoroughly according to reviewers comments and suggestions. The overall scientific quality of the manuscript has been improved significantly due to the revision. The revised manuscript has a proper structure. Results are descussed in details with relevant references. I agree and accept all modificationsa made by the authors.

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you to response the comments.