[Quality of raw cow's milk]

Studies were carried out on a total of 1459 batches of raw cow milk intended for processing with regard to the standard indices--temperature, titratable acidity, and mechanical contamination. The same batches were also investigated in terms of total bacterial contamination and coliform count. It was found that the quality of milk was good. Only 21 per cent of the investigated samples did not correspond to the standard requirements because of insufficient cooling, 0.2 per cent of the samples showed higher acidity, and 1.4 per cent were with mechanical admixtures. The total microbial content of the investigated milk varied in 52 per cent of the samples from 0.1 to 1 x 10/7cm3. It was established that microbial contamination correlated strongly with the season. The coliform count in about 27 per cent of the samples was up to 1 x 10(4), and in about 42 per cent it was above 1 x 10(5)/cm3. Highest coliform numbers were noted during the warm months. There existed a correlation between the total bacterial contamination and the amount of coliforms, which was more clearly expressed in batches of high and low bacterial count.