Microbiological quality of raw milk in the Podlasie area in relation to the daily milk production

Studies were carried out on milk delivered to 10 collection centres in the Podlasie region. Milk samples were taken from approximately 50 deliverers from each collection centre in autumn and winter. Totally, 999 samples of milk were examined. The total bacterial content in milk was estimated. it was found out. that deliverers with, the best microbiological quality of milk (up to 100 thousand bacteria/1 cm(3)) were the largest group (47.2%). There were 18.1% of deliverers whose milk contained above 1000 thousand bacteria/1 cm(3). A high significant dependence between the size of daily milk collection and the number of bacteria in milk was found both in autumn and winter The microbiological quality of milk considerably improved together with the quantity of milk delivered to a collection centre. Milk from the largest deliveries, i.e. above 50 litres a day was characterized by the best microbiological quality.