Milk Quality of Dairy Cattle Bred in Ceara, Northeast of Brazil

The demand for high quality dairy products is growing, milk should be produced under both sanitary and technological standards, to ensure maintenance of its nutritional characteristics and meet the required hygienic aspects. Our objectives were to evaluate the quality of refrigerated fresh milk from cattle, produced in the city of Magdalena, State of Cear?, Northeast of Brazil, according to the parameters set forth in regulatory instruction number 51, and compare the quality of milk in different breeding systems. 101 refrigerated fresh milk samples were collected monthly, from October 2010 to March 2011, directly from the expansion TANKS of three dairy farms, with different production systems. The samples were collected in vials containing Bronopol (2-bromo-2- nitropropane-1,3-diol), packaged and transported in thermal boxes with ice, and sent for analysis to the laboratory clinica do leite-ESALQ – USP, for total bacterial count (TBC), somatic cell count (SCC), and milk composition in relation to fat, protein, lactose, total solids (TS), dry degreased extract (DDE) contents. The patterns of chemical composition of milk, TBC and SCC observed were within the limits established by regulatory instruction number 51 in all samples, demonstrating that producers adopted hygienic measures for obtaining and conserving the milk, thus ensuring ITS quality. TN: NI 51 = Regulatory Instruction number 51, which regulates the production and transport of milk in Brazil.