Traditional Butter preservation Techniques, Evaluation of its Microbial quality and Organoleptic properties in Nedjo district, Oromia Regional state, Ethiopia

The study was carried out in Nedjo districts, West Wollega Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia, to identify traditional butter preservation techniques, to evaluate the microbial quality and organoleptic properties of butter preserved using different preservative and to assess some traditional butter production parameters, To generate data, semi-structured questionnaire was prepared for the total of 180 respondents, 30 from each kebele of six selected kebeles of the districts and owning at least one milking cow. Subsequently to the survey, a total of five kg of pooled fresh butter was collected and taken to Holeta Dairy Laboratory Research Center to conduct the experimental part.. Then, composite sample was made and randomly allocated to 5 butter preservation techniques, one kg of butter from each treatment (traditional ghee, spiced, melted, salted and un-treated butter) to analyze their microbial and organoleptic quality for 3 months at one month interval. The findings showed that, the mean volume of fermented milk required to produce a kg of butter was 22.11lit and the average butter produced per week/HH was 0.46kg. The only marketed products in the area were butter (69.39%) and fresh milk (3.48%). Butter is usually stored in small clay pot (70%), plastic materials (20%) and cans (10%). Traditional butter preservation methods identified were traditional ghee making (100%), spicing (98.33%), melting (28.88%) and salting (11.7%). To make traditional ghee; Trachyspermum ammi, Nigella sativa, Aframomum angusti-folium, Trigonella foenum, Zingiber officinale and Allium sativum are the commonly used spices. The laboratory results showed that, use of traditional ghee, and salting were more efficient in preserving butter for microbial quality (AMBC, YMC, LABC, TCC and ENTC) and organoleptic quality parameters (aroma, texture and color). The major constraints of milk and butter production, processing and marketing were scarcity of feed, animal diseases, low milk production, low fat recovery, low price and price fluctuation over time, lack of collection centers and inaccessibility to market