Camel milk production and transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Camel herders attribute many properties for camel milk, including medicinal or health effects. In fact, Camel milk is also used in the treatment of diabetes, liver diseases, general fatigue in old people and as a feed supplement to milking mothers. Camel milk yield varies from 650 to 12000 liters per lactation with a mean of 2500 liters. In dry areas, milk yield fluctuates considerably from time of abundance to time of acute scarcity according to the availability of grazing and feed sup-ply. Thus, transformation of the surplus of milk to cheese will allow for fighting under nutrition and could constitute an income for herders. The camel's milk is also known for its antimicrobial activity which is confirmed by its late acidification and good stability. This activity is more important in whey than in casein and is related to the high level of lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase and lysozymes which varies from 280 to 648 mg/1 vs. 13 mg/l in cow's milk. The spontaneous acidification and clotting of raw milk at 35°C is longer in camel's milk with a latent phase ranging from 4 to 8 hours vs. 2 to 3 hours for cow's milk. Enzymatic coagulation of camel's milk is also difficult and known by herders who increase the rennet adjunction by 50 to 100 times than that used in the other ruminant milk. The lower coagulation of camel's milk could be explained by its poorness in casein 6, the bigger size of micelles, the lower dry matter content, the smaller size fat's globules and the low content of colloidal calcium which is 35% vs. 65% in cow's milk. The extreme fragility of camel's milk curd is responsible for the lost of a major part of dry matter in the whey. From the total dry matter of milk, camel's milk curds contain only 30% vs. 50% in cow's milk and 68% in sheep milk. The camel's cheese taste is slightly bitter with no specific flavor, its texture is medium. Many types of camel cheese are made in some countries in intensive production systems. Cheese making is also possible from camel's milk by nomadic herders. Further studies are necessary to improve camel milk production and transformations with new methods and adapted to nomadic herders and their lifestyle.