Status of market milk sold for human consumption in Sakrand city of Sindh province

The adulteration of milk is one of the most serious problems in Pakistan nowadays, and the consumers are very much conscious that mill supply must be free of health hazardous adulterants.Thus, current study was conducted to determine quality characteristics and adulterants in the milk sold for human consumption at retail points of Sakrand city.Over a total number (96) of milk samples 69.67% were found clear for general appearance, 71.88% white in color, 14.58% yellow and 13.54% light yellow in color.While majority (53.13%) of milk samples was observed with normal odor, 9.38% with onion type, 21.88% with mild and 15.63% mild cowey odor.In case of taste/flavor, 50.00% milk samples were noted slightly sweet, 29.50% very slightly sweet, 12.50% saltish and 8.33% bitter.Whereas high percent (73.96%) of milk samples had watery consistency but lower (26.04%) with normal consistency.The average freezing point, temperature, acidity, fat, solids-not-fat, protein, lactose, salts and added water in milk samples collected from retail points located on various routes of Sakrand city was noted as -0.3660.010 C, 32.920.28 0C, 0.160.005,4.130.14,7.740.29,2.630.10,3.800.11,0.640.03,and 36.632.29%,respectively.Further over total milk samples obtained from retail points of Sakrand city 13.89% found adulterated with boric acid, 87.50% with cane sugar, 36.11% with formalin and 29.17% with urea.These results indicate alarming state of milk in Sakrand city where the adulteration of water found to be common.The adulteration markedly affected the quality characteristics of milk.