Evaluation of the population's level of knowledge about raw, UHT and pasteurized milk in 18 Brazilian states

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the consumption of raw, UHT/UAT (Ultra-high temperature) and pasteurized milk through a questionnaire carried out by the digital platform “Google forms”, used to evaluate the preferences and regularity of consumption of the interviewees in relation to these dairy products were evaluated, as well as the risk of contamination by microorganisms and the nutritional values that each variety of milk would have according to them. Three hundred and seventy-four questionnaires were obtained, answered from eighteen Brazilian states, and their results were tabulated for a better visualization of the data, in this way it was possible to understand the reasons that led people to choose the type of milk consumed. During the survey it was observed that a large part of the interviewees reported believing that raw milk would be healthier, since according to them it has more nutrients, less bacterial contamination or does not contain preservatives, however, only a small portion of the respondents responded to consuming milk crude. In contrast, the majority of respondents said they consume UHT or pasteurized milk, and of these just over half reported that these dairy products would be better than raw milk. At the end of this research it was observed that the Brazilian population ingests a large amount of pasteurized or UHT milk, moving a good part of the Brazilian industry and having a perspective of growth in consumption and an increase in this segment of the market, while there are still prejudices regarding these dairy products. due to fraud reported in newspapers.