This document summarizes several common milk quality tests, including organoleptic, clot on boiling, alcohol, starch, and acidity tests. The organoleptic test uses sight, smell, and taste to rapidly identify poor quality milk without equipment. The clot on boiling test checks for abnormal milk like mastitis milk by looking for coagulation when a sample is boiled. The alcohol test detects increased acidity or rennet levels by checking for coagulation when milk is mixed with alcohol. The starch test uses iodine to detect adulteration with starch by looking for a color change. Finally, the acidity test measures pH to identify developed acidity from bacterial growth.
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Milk quality test
1. Overview on Milk Quality
Tests
Presented By:
Reham Masoud
Analyst at Alex .Food Inspection Laboratory, Animal Health Research Institute
2. Organoleptic tests:
The organoleptic test permits rapid segregation
of poor quality milk at the milk receiving
platform. No equipment is required, but the
milk grader must have good sense of sight,
smell and taste. The result of the test is
obtained instantly, and the cost of the test are
low. Milk which cannot be adequately judged
organoleptically must be subjected to other
more sensitive and objective tests.
3. Procedure:
Open a can of milk.
Immediately smell the milk.
Observe the appearance of the milk.
If still unable to make a clear judgement, taste the milk, but do not swallow it. Spit the milk sample into a bucket provided for that purpose
or into a drain basin, flush with water.
Look at the can lid and the milk can to check cleanliness.
Judgement:
Abnormal smell and taste may be caused by:
Atmospheric taint (e.g. barny/cowy odour).
Physiological taints (hormonal imbalance, cows in late lactation- spontaneous rancidity).
Bacterial taints.
Chemical taints or discolouring.
Advanced acidification (pH < 6.4).
4. Clot on Boiling (C.O.B) Test:
The test is quick and simple. It is one of the old tests for too acid
milk(pH<5.8) or abnormal milk (e.g. colostral or mastitis milk ). If a
milk sample fails in the test, the milk must contain many acid or
rennet producing microrganisms or the milk has an abnormal high
percentage of proteins like colostral milk. Such milk cannot stand the
heat treatment in milk processing and must therefore be rejected.
5. Procedure:
Boil a small amount of milk in a
spoon, test tube or other suitable
container. If there is clotting,
coagulation or precipitation, the milk
has failed the test. Heavy
contamination in freshly drawn milk
cannot be detected, when the acidity
is below 0.20-0.26% Lactic acid.
6. The Alcohol Test:
The test is quick and simple. It is besed on instability of the proteins
when the levels of acid and/or rennet are increased and acted upon
by the alcohol. Also increased levels of albumen (colostrum milk) and
salt concentrates (mastitis) results in a positive test.
7. Procedure:
The test is done by mixing equal amounts of milk and 68% of ethanol
solution in a small bottle or test tube. (68 % Ethanol solution is prepared
from 68 mls 96%(absolute) alcohol and 28 mls distilled water). If the tested
milk is of good quality, there will be no coagulation, clotting or precipitation,
but it is necessary to look for small lumps. The first clotting due to acid
development can first be seen at 0.21-0.23% Lactic acid. For routine testing 2
mls milk is mixed with 2 mls 68% alcohol.
8. Starch (Iodine Test):
Milk contains relatively large
amount of fat. Addition of carbohydrate
to milk increases its solid content. There
by reducing the amount of fat present in
the milk. Starch is one such component
that is added to adulterate milk. The
test to detect starch in milk uses iodine
solution, addition of which turns the
milk solution to blue black color due to
the formation of starch –Iodo complex,
in the presence of starch.
9. Acidity test:
Bacteria that normally develop in raw milk produce more or less of lactic
acid. In the acidity test the acid is neutralised with 0.1 N Sodium hydroxide
and the amount of alkaline is measured. From this, the percentage of lactic
acid can be calculated. Fresh milk contains in this test also "natural acidity"
which is due to the natural ability to resist pH changes .The natural acidity of
milk is 0.16 - 0.18%. Figures higher than this signifies developed acidity due
to the action of bacteria on milk sugar.
10. Procedure:
9 ml of the milk measured into the
porcelain dish/conical flask,
1 ml Phenopthalein is added and
then slowly from the burret, 0.1 N
Sodium hydroxide under continuous
mixing, until a faint pink colour
appears.
The number of mls of Sodium
hydroxide solution divided by 10
expresses the percentage of lactic
acid.