Quality assessment of sweetened condensed and evaporated milks in Alexandria governorate [with 4 tables]

ABSTRACT

Concentrated milk is extensively imported from different countries abroad. These products, with their greater concentration of milk solids are useful in the manufacture of ice cream, candies, and a variety of other food items. Forty random samples of concentrated milk [20 each of sweetened condensed and evaporated milks] of different brands were collected from large supermarkets in Alexandria Governorate. All examined concentrated milk samples were subjected to the physical and organoleptic evaluation. The mean values of total solids, fat, sucrose contents and sugar/water ratio in the examined sweetened condensed milk samples were 30.4 +/- 0.31; 9.18 +/- 0.11; 43.93 +/- 0.54 and 62.94 +/- 0.43, respectively. While, the mean values of total solids and fat content in examined evaporated milk samples were 23.17 +/- 1.64 and 8.54 +/- 0.12, respectively. The mean values of aerobic plate count, anaerobic plat count in the examined sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk samples were 3.05x10[2] +/- 1.07x10 and 2.33x10 +/- 0.88x10; 1.1x10[2] +/- 9.4x10 and 1.33x10 +/- 0.33x10 cfu/g, respectively. Enterococci contaminated 25% of the examined sweetened condensed milk samples with varying numbers. Osmophilic fungi were found in 25% of examined sweetened condensed milk samples with a mean value of 6.44x10 +/- 2.7x10. While, the mean value of total yeast and mould count in examined evaporated milk was 0.95x10 +/- 0.25x10 cfu/g. Bacillus cereus contaminated 20% of examined condensed milk samples with a mean value of 8.75x10 +/- 7.0x10. Salmonellae, Coliforms and Clostridium perfringens failed to be detected in the examined samples of concentrated milk. The public health, economic importance of the isolated species and suggested control measure were discussed