HYGIENIC-SANITARY QUALITY OF RAW MILK ON DAIRY FARMS OF SÃO PAULO STATE, BRAZIL

Abstract

Milk is a high nutritive value food to people providing growth of many microorganisms. Programs that ensure the safety and quality of milk should be used to decrease the number of microorganisms in this product. Brazil has increased the milk production and dairy products export. This paper analyzed the sanitary and microbiology qualities of raw milk of 36 farms in São Paulo State through dairy herds Standard Plate Count (SPC) and Somatic Cells Count (SCC). The results were compared with the microbiologic (SPC) and sanitary (SCC) standards according to the Normative Instruction n^o 51/2002 (NI n^o 51/2002) and if quality of the raw product was equivalent with those established in others countries. From the thirty six samples that were analyzed, twenty were type C milk and sixteen were type B milk. Thirteen (65,00%) and nine (56,25%) of those samples met requirements of SPC according to the NI Nº 51/2002. If considered the minor requirement of NI nº 51/2002 to SPC, from the thirty six samples 24 (66,67%) were according to standard and when considered the most world met requirement, just 10 (27,78%) were according to standard. Of all the samples analyzed to SCC, even considering the higher standard (< 4,0 x 10⁵ SC/mL) based on most important dairy product markets, thirty three (91,67%) met the requirement. Major part of the samples of raw milk that were analized showed a large variation of quality according to the microbiological request (SPC). The SCC doesn’t show a big concern about the quality of the raw milk analized when compared to diferents legal standard analized. The dairy sector needs to improve the hygienic conditions of the raw milk to qualify the brazilian product for exportation to international markets that are higherly exacting.