In-home pasteurization of raw goat's milk by microwave treatment

Raw milk has been implicated as an important source of infection with the common bacterial agents associated with gastroenteritis. While established methods of home pasteurization can be cumbersome and tedious, we have demonstrated that a domestic microwave oven can be used effectively to reduce aerobic plate counts in raw goat's milk by up to 6 log cycles without impairing the organoleptic quality. Good keeping quality of the irradiated product was demonstrated by the 7-day holding standard plate count. Petrifilm SM and Petrifilm VRB were used successfully under field conditions. Further investigation must be undertaken to demonstrate that this method is equivalent to the legally accepted pasteurization procedures for the inactivation of such pathogenic bacteria as Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes and the pasteurization standard Coxiella burnetti.