Rapid Microbiological Assessment in Raw Milk. Validation of a Rapid Alternative Method for the Assessment of Microbiological Quality in Raw Milk

The consumption of dairy products and the dairy industry are one of the main global agri-food sectors for its size, economic importance, and level of technology. Microbiological quality of pasteurized milk or other milk products is dependent on microbiological quality of raw milk. A variety of microbiological count methods is available for monitoring the hygienic quality of raw milk. Among them, the pour plate method is the official essay for counting the number of colony-forming units in milk samples according to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) No. 4833-1:2013. The aim of the present study is the validation of the Micro Biological Survey (MBS) method, against the reference plate-count method, for the assessment of the microbiological quality of raw milk. This comparative study, performed in collaboration with the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana M. Aleandri (IZSLT), demonstrates the accuracy of this alternative method for the determination of total viable bacterial count in cow’s raw milk. The results obtained with the MBS method highlight its potential as a valid tool for reliable microbiological analysis in dairy industries.