Being number one country in milk production it is utmost important to see that the milk and dairy products produced in India meet the laid down/required national/internationai standards regarding the composition and microbiological qualities. The quality of milk vended in ten tahesils of Yeotmal district was investigated with the object to know the compositional parameters and incidence of pathogenic organisms therein. The results obtained on the fat content of vendors' milk showed statistically significant variation in its fat content. The protein content values were significantly different from each other. Moreover T. S. content of vendors' milk revealed the lowest value for Yeotmal tahesil to be 7.62 and the highest 9.84% with an average 8.53%. The acidity of vendors' milk was within the admissible limits. The average pH values of the vendors' milk tested for entire ten tahesils showed the highest pH during winter and the lowest values during summer. The electric conductivity of vendors' milk showed the average electric conductivity value of 104.82 mhos during the rainy season and 99.52 mhos in winter as well as 130.66 mhos in summer. The differences in specific gravity of milk samples during various seasons were found to be Significant. In addition to this the presence of pathogenic/enterotoxigenic organisms in vendors milk was alarming because though the milk was invariably boiled before its consumption their presence was an indication of unhygienic practices prevailing in milk production, handling and distridution.
