Avaliação da qualidade físico-química e microbiológica do leite pasteurizado submetido à condições de transporte e armazenamento

Abstract

Milk is one of the most complete foods in the human diet, having a great nutritional importance and functional character. Milk is rich in nutrients, which enable the rapid multiplication of microorganisms. Thus the raw milk goes through conservation processes, one of which is the pasteurization. Pasteurization eliminates pathogens and ensures a longer shelflife for the milk. After pasteurization milk should be stored in proper condition, so the quality can be guaranteed. In this work a test was performed with samples of pasteurized milk, which were subjected to different storage conditions, one group was stored in the vehicle used to transport the milk, and the other group was put in the refrigerator of the company's laboratory. Analysis of the physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of the initial and all pasteurized milk samples were performed throughout the ten days of testing. The results were compared with the current legislation of pasteurized standard in order to verify the quality of the milk after the trial period. The results indicate that after the ten days milk maintained good physicochemical and microbiological characteristics, but failed in sensory analysis after eight days of storage, although the conditions of carriage were inadequate. The temperature during transport was higher than the range determined by the legislation, which was reflected in an increase in acidity and mesophilic bacteria in the samples that were in the truck. Most of the analysis after the end of the tests showed characteristics within the legal requirements, which is justified by the good quality of the initial sample tested.