Condições de produção e manipulação do leite cru comercializado no município de Santa Cruz–RN

Abstract

Milk is a food present on the table of Brazilians in a daily basis, and its production is increasing to keep up with consumer demand. Being rich in nutrients and having adequate physical and biochemical characteristics, milk is an ideal medium for the proliferation of microorganisms, which can lead to accelerated degradation of the product as well as pose a health risk to the population when consumed without the appropriate thermal processing. For this reason the commercialization of raw milk has been prohibited by law since 1970, although it is still carried out in a significant way in small municipalities. Thus, the present work aimed to characterize the production and commercialization of raw milk in the municipality of Santa Cruz-RN. It was submitted to the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences of Trairi-UFRN, authorization number 2,116,334. The producers were recruited from data provided by Institute of Technical Assistance and Rural Extension of Rio Grande do Norte EMATER as well as the Municipal Milk Cooperative. Consumers have been reached through producers indications and resellers of the product, as well as from the resale places. Through the use of questionnaires, 20 producers and 108 cow's milk consumers were interviewed. We observed that 60% of the producers do not have specific training and 100% do not have any knowledge about the marketing legislation of the product. In relation to consumers, they commonly perform inadequate food handling practices and only 53% report on what Foodborne Illnesses are. Thus, we concluded that although commercialization of raw milk is irregular, it still occurs in a regular manner, making necessary both the training of producers on good practices of manipulation and the awareness of the population about the risks of Foodborne Illnesses.