COUNT OF MESOPHILIC AND PSYCHROTROPHIC MICROORGANISMS IN SAMPLES OF PASTEURIZED AND ULTRA HIGH TEMPERATURE MILK

Abstract

Food of animal or vegetable ori gin can serve various pathogenic microorganisms. The food of anima l origin, milk const i tutes an important medium of culture for the development of a large number of microorgani sms. It is also susceptible to tamperi ng and contamina tion, which makes qual ity monitoring a necessi ty, to ensur e a n a dequat e final produ ct both t o the consumer and industry. This st udy aimed to determine the level of contaminat ion of pasteurized and UHT milk by psychrotrophic and mesophilic, Staphylococcus sp. and Bacillus cereus. Were analyzed 9 samples of pasteur ized and 9 samples of UHT milk, randomly purchased from supermarket, totaling 18 samples. The UHT milk showed no contamina t ion by microorga ni sms, pasteu r ized milk was contamina ted by mesophiles, and in three of the samples exceeded the amou nt al lowed by l aw; and a high contamination by Staphylococcus sp. (until 6,11 log₁₀ UFC/mL) and Bacillus cereus (until 5,60 log₁₀ UFC/mL). The high count s of mesophilic serve to aler t publ ic hea lth au thor i t ies to the potentia l r isk of cert ain ba cteria t hat produce toxins causing outbreaks.