The SCC in dairy cows milk is the most important criterion used to grade milk according to its hygienic properties in Western countries. However, in dairy goats the use of this criterion is confounded due to the increase in SCC toward the end of lactation, irrespective of bacterial infection. Thus, a solution to this problem is necessary before applying quality schemes based on SCC for goat milk. One possibility that was suggested is to use milk with high SCC of late lactating goats only for drinking, using bacterial isolation as the major hygienic quality criteria