Tarun Raghuvanshi¹, Shoor Vir Singh^1*, Ram Babu Sharma¹, Saurabh Gupta¹, Kundan Kumar Chaubey¹, Naveen Kumar¹, Kuldeep Dhama^2
1Central Institute for Research on Goats (CIRG), Makhdoom, Farah, Mathura–281 122,Uttar Pradesh, India; ²Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar, Bareilly–243 122, Uttar Pradesh, India
*Corresponding author: shoorvir.singh@gmail.com; shoorvir_singh@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT
Live Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis bacilli have been cultured from the pasteurized milk and cheese, compounding public health concern and food safety. Map is known to survive pasteurization and commercial paneer is usually made from pasteurized milk. Therefore it is essential to screen milk products especially made from the milk of animals endemic of Johne’s disease. In India, first time Map has been identified in the samples (n = 24) of paneer made from milk of goatherds endemic for Johne’s disease. Of the 24 samples screened, 4 (16.6%) and 0 (0%) were positive in microscopy and IS900 PCR, respectively. And of the 4 positive samples, 3 (12.5%) and 1 (4.2%) were from the fat and sediment fractions of paneer, respectively. Since Map free milk and milk products would have minimum risk for consumers, therefore it is important to control disease in animals. Besides paneer prepared from properly boiled milk instead of pasteurized milk may decrease the risk of transmission of Map to human beings through food chain.

Key Words: Goat milk product; Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis; IS900 PCR