MILK QUALITY FROM WESTERN SANTA CATARINA IN THE PERIOD OF 2009 - 2010 Qualidade do leite do Oeste de Santa Catarina no período de 2009 - 2010

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the quality of refrigerated raw milk produced by 912 farmers in the Western part of Santa Catarina State, Brazil. The parameters analyzed were fat, protein, lactose, solids nonfat (SNF) content, standard plate count (SPC) and somatic cell count (SCC). A comparative analysis study with data from 2009 and 2010 was also conducted, which has shown that SCC influenced on the physico-chemical results. It was also observed that in 2010 the values for SCC were higher than in 2009, out of the limits recommended by the legislation until 2011. The SPC values were well above the maximum level accepted, indicating high contamination of milk with aerobic mesophilic microorganisms. The data collected indicated that only 4.9% of the producers sampled in 2009 and 8.1% in 2010 were in compliance with the standards enforced by a new legislation of January 2012. There was also increase on the milk fat content as SCC increased, which was not observed with other milk components. Lactose had a gradual reduction as SCC increased. On the other hand, SNF content did not correlate with SCC variance. These results demonstrate the urgent need of improvement in milk production and better technical orientation of milk producing properties to reach higher quality standards in Santa Catarina.