Causes of non-receipt of refrigerated raw milk in a dairy industry in the Pernambuco’s meridional “Agreste” region

Abstract

Milk has constituents of great nutritional value and its production and consumption have grown every year worldwide. Associated with its economic importance, this product is constantly the target of fraud and adulteration, which causes as a consequence great damages to the industry and concern to the public health organs. In this sense, we aimed to analyze, retrospectively, the causes that determined the non-receipt of the refrigerated raw milk in a dairy industry with Brazilian Federal Inspection, in the region of meridional “Agreste” of Pernambuco (Brazil), during the period that comprise the months of March to October 2016, based on files of the industry records. In this period, 122 cases of non-receipt of refrigerated raw milk by the industry were identified. Of these, the main cause was water addition (34.5%), followed by milk with acidity above the limit established by the industry, maximum 0.16 g of lactic acid/100 mL of milk (30.3%), and presence of antibiotic residues in milk (26.2%). Thus, the importance of quality and identity control of the milk performed by the company was reinforced, to prevent the industry from processing adulterated milk that will be later made available to the consumer. The need to improve milk policy was also reinforced for the purpose of educating, guiding and encouraging producers regarding the implementation of Good Agricultural Practices for milk production, including the need for a Hygienic Milking, respect for antibiotic withdrawal period, when it is used used in animal treatment and, especially, the damage caused by the addition of fraudulent substances to t he milk.