Avaliação da qualidade de leites de consumo comercializados em países do Mercosul

Abstract

The milk has a great importance in human nutrition, which is due to its high nutritional value, being produced in almost every country in the world, generating income for millions of farmers. Therefore, the analyzes are a factor of crucial importance for the development of an appropriate production quality standards and conducive to the welfare of consumers. This study aimed to evaluate the sanitary quality of pasteurized milk, ultra high temperature (UHT) and powders marketed in three Mercosur countries: Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina comparing the results with the standards of legislation to the Mercosur countries and national levels. For samples of pasteurized milk, pH just stood outside the parameters set by the industry, in all samples analyzed. As lactose, all samples from Paraguay and Argentina were below the minimum value. As the analyzes for UHT milk marketed in Argentina were outside the standards set by the legislation on various parameters studied and milk powder pH had half of the samples from Brazil and Paraguay half of the samples below the limit set by the industry. Regarding the microbiological, microscopic evaluation of antimicrobial and check fraud and tampering, all samples met the requirements of the legislation. Changes in composition and physicochemical properties found may be indicative of problems in the quality of raw milk and / or milk adulteration during processing.