A PILOT SURVEY ON THE FREEZING-POINT OF RAW AND HEAT-TREATED ITALIAN MILK

A survey on the freezing point (FP) of raw bulk milk (61 samples) from farms in Italy as well as of heat-treated (UHT) milk (94 samples) was carried out. The influence of deep-freezing of milk on its FP was als o evaluated. Determinations were carried out by means of the thermisto r cryoscopic method, standardized by the International Dairy Federatio n and adopted as the official method by the European Union (EU). The r esults show that raw bulk milk from herds in Italy had an FP that met the standard fixed by the EU for heat-treated milk (e.g. -0.520 degree s C), whereas, the FP of 29% of the heat-treated milk samples did not meet this standard.