THE PERFORMANCE OF A DETERGENT-SANITIZER FOR MILK UTENSIL SANITATION IN UNSUPERVISED FIELD TESTS

Abstract

In a field study covering 15–16 months and which involved 155 Grade A milk producers in three widely separated areas, a detergent-sanitizer was compared with customary methods of milk utensil sanitization. No supervision was made of the producers other than that normally given by the sanitarian and fieldman. Bacterial counts, thermoduric and total, tended to be lower in the milk from producers using the detergent-sanitizer sanitization procedure. Milking utensils appeared cleaner and, milk-stone deposits were absent from the utensils of those producers who used the detergent-sanitizer method. Since this study covered an extended period of time with only normal supervision of the producers, the detergent-sanitizer method appears to be one that can be used routinely over an indefinite period of time with entirely satisfactory results.