The bacteriological screening of donated human milk: Laboratory experience of British Paediatric Association's published guidelines

This study was undertaken to assess the application of the British Paediatric Association's (BPA) published guidelines to the bacteriological screening of breast milk donated to a District General Hospital milk bank. Samples of donated milk were subjected to bacterial counts and provisional identification after both 24 and 48h incubation on cysteine lactose electrolyte-deficient (CLED) and Columbia blood agar. 21.8% (76 out of 348) donations of milk failed to reach the BPA acceptable criteria. The organisms responsible for the rejection of these samples were all evident within 24h incubation, and were not significantly confined to one medium. A large percentage of rejected samples originated from a small number of donor mothers; 63.2% came from one donor. In applying BPA guidelines. both CLED and Columbia blood agar were found to be equally effective in screening for unacceptable organisms in prepasteurization donated breast milli. The 24h period allowed for bacteriological screening, prior to pasteurization of milk samples, was sufficient to allow the growth of all potentially pathogenic bacteria in this study. To prevent the donation of consistently contaminated milk, more active communication between the milk bank staff and the donor is recommended.