An Empirical Study on Microbial Load and Acidity in Raw Milk Produced in Malayer and Nahavand Cities, Iran 2012

Milk is very susceptible for growth and development of many microorganisms because it is rich in nutrients and has suitable condition. Thus, it is very vital to respect sanitary conditions at all stages of production and transport of raw milk. The objective of the present investigation was to determine the total bacterial, and acidity in raw milk from milk collection centers in Malayer and Nahavand cities. 52 milk samples were collected from 13 centers in summer 2012 and were analyzed according to standard methods. None of the raw milk samples under investigation, had superior or grade 1 quality. Only 7.7% of the samples were classified as raw milk with grade 2 quality and 92.3% were non-standard. The mean of microbial total count in base was 3.8 × 107 CFU/ml and average acidity in the samples was 0.163. The city of Tochqhaz and Aliabade-Damagh has the lowest and the highest microbial total count. In general the result of this study showed unsatisfactory conditions of milk in the milk collection centers of the Malayer and Nahavand cities.