Study on Some Quality Control Measures of Pasteurized Milk of the Western Cape, South Africa

This paper had been presented for promotion at the university of Khartoum. To get the full text please contact the other at Ibtisammohamed@hotmail.comPasteurized milk samples of 8 different companies were collected from the 5 different food stores distributed in each of the 5 selected different socioeconomic areas of the Western Cape of South Africa, during the period of March-August 2001. At each pick up the collected samples were analyzed for somatic cell count (SCCs), standard plate count (TBC), coliforms count and E. coli count. Also the presence of Salmonella spp. and Listeria spp. were estimated. Moreover, standard cultures for the detection of Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., Enterococcus spp. and Bacillus spp. were done for all pasteurized milk samples. Milk constituents (Fat, protein, lactose, total solids, ash and solids not fat) and the added water were also estimated. Escherichia coli was isolated from 3 (3.9%) of the pasteurized milk samples with count of more than 190 cfu mL-1. Similarly, S. epidermidis, E. faecalis, E. faecium and S. intermedius were isolated at a rate of 3.9, 3.9, 3.9, 2.6 and 1.3%, respectively. The means of SCCs, TBC and coliform counts were recorded as 6.426x104±5.429x104 cell mL-1 9.94x105±2.9x106 cfu mL-1 and 2.84x104±1.2x105cfurnL-1, respectively. The present results revealed the negative isolation for both Listeria spp. and Salmonella spp. The percent of fat, protein, lactose, total solids (TS), solids not fat (SNF) and ash were estimated as 2.187±0.828, 2.168±0.592, 3.195±0.835, 8.279±2.155, 6.093±1.423 and 0.72±0.0005, respectively. The percent of the added water was found as 24.153±14.833. The present results showed significant differences for the milk samples measurements from different companies, different socioeconomic areas and food stores. However the different packaging materials, their volumes and the different expiratory dates of the milk revealed non significant variations. Pearson correlation coefficients of the different measurements were also estimated. The present study concluded that regularity and quality measurement of the processed fluid milk should urgently needed to be implemented for the insurance of the quality of milk and milk products