The quality and safety of milk: the basis of food security

Dairy cattle breeding plays an important place in the agro-industrial complex of the Oryol region. The regional long-term target program "Development of dairy cattle breeding and increase of milk production in the Orel region for 2012-2016" was financed and fully implemented in the region. The production of milk on the farms of all categories in 2016 was 426 thousand tons of milk. The receipt of high-value milk that meets all modern requirements for the quality of raw milk depends on how much technological factors such as seasonality of the year, breed characteristics, age and stage of lactation, the ration of feeding, etc. were considered during its production. In this regard, the purpose of the work is to assess the quality and safety of milk of cows. The research work was carried out at the department of private zootechnology and breeding of farm animals of the FSBEE of HE Orel SAU and on the base of the JSC "Orel Chernozems" in 2015-2016. Having carried out a complex analysis of milk, it was established that the level of somatic cells and its bacterial contamination did not exceed the maximum permissible safety standards. The complex analysis of the presence of mesophilic aerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms (QMAFAnM) in milk of the investigated groups of cows showed that their quantity does not exceed the maximum permissible standards of the technical regulations (5*105 KOE/cm3) - 1.1*105 KOE/cm3. The number of potentially hazardous substances also does not exceed the maximum permissible standards. Among the toxic elements arsenic - 0.0075±0.002 and cadmium 0.0204±0.002 were found in cows' milk; other toxic elements introduced in the regulations were not detected in milk. Strontium-90 in the amount of 4.3±8.1 B/cell as one of the radionucleotides was also detected in milk. Thus, the produced milk meets the requirements of the quality and safety of the products.