Tipologia das instalações e níveis de contaminação microbiológica em queijarias no agreste paraibano.

Abstract

The deregulation of the milk market, the commercial opening and the production of laticinios are very important aspects in this industry. The quality of milk and its derivatives is narrowly related with its production and technology, with the health of the man and the animal, having necessity of constant monitoring, since milking, attainment of the derivative, until the consumption of the food. The derivatives made with milk can be contaminated during its manufacture, manipulation or conservation, or still, when manipulated for the innumerable plants commercial caretakers of cheese and butter; for they do not obey the norms of hygiene or they are unaware of them. Amongst the products of small-scale dairy plants manufactured in the Northeast, the curdle cheese, the butter cheese and the butter of the land are spread out In Brazil, the production of these cheeses is restricted to the northeastern region. The manufacture and the commercialization of these products are very important activities for the regional economy, and are developed by a considerable parcel of small producers, established mainly in the agricultural zone. It means their main source of income, since these products are widely consumed. On the other hand, the quality of produced small-scale dairy plants is configured as one of the main impediments in its commercialization. In Paraiba State, the cheese industry is divided, basically, in two segments: the average companies, fiscal zed by official agencies, and the small artisan units, located, mainly, in the agricultural way, without any fiscalization, whose processing of these products, i f does not find clear-cut, leads to the lack of standardization of the cheeses and commercialized butters. This work Intends to diagnosis the conditions of the installations and production of small-scale dairy, in artisan plants, also evaluating the levels of contamination by microorganisms in the environment of manufacture of the products derived from milk.