Nutritional and Microbiological Quality Assessment of Powdered milk of different brands available in retail markets of Bangladesh

Abstract

The current study was designed to assess and evaluate the nutritional and microbial properties of whole powdered milk from 5 different commercial brands (A, B, C, D, E) that are sold in retail outlets in the town of Chattogram. Each brand was taken into account as a separate treatment, and three replications of each sample were obtained for each brand. In the context of the goals of the study, a total of five samples were obtained from a variety of nearby supermarkets. These samples were then subjected to a series of tests to determine the nutritional (percentage of fat, protein, ash, moisture, and acidity), and microbial (total viable count, E. coli, and Staphylococcus aureus) characteristics of the collected samples to determine their overall quality. Among the brands of powder milk, fat ranged from (31.5 ± 0.86 to 35.67 ± 3.05), protein from (21.91 ± 0.36 to 22.56 ± 0.68), ash from (5.22 ± 0.31 to 5.52 ± 0.05), moisture from (3.01 ± 0.37 to 4.14 ± 0.06), and acidity from (0.13 ± 0.02 to 0.16 ± 0.05). Regarding the nutritional quality, all five brands were of a good quality grade, and there was no noticeable difference between any of them, except the acidity levels for treatment 3, which varied greatly between brands. The total bacterial count in E for treatment 2 was found to be the highest at (7.8×104 cfu/ml), while the total bacterial count in A for treatment 1 was the lowest at (3.3×103 cfu/ml). On the other hand, the presence of E. coli was not detected in any of the samples, but S. aureus was discovered in a couple of the milk samples. Though no E. coli was found, it can be deduced that adequate sanitary precautions were taken during the production of the powdered milk samples and their subsequent storage. In conclusion, it is possible to state that most of the brands of powdered milk possessed the recommended suggested standard in terms of both the powder's nutritional qualities and its microbiological qualities.