Detection of Microbial Activity in Raw Milk

Abstract

Milk is a nutrient - rich white liquid food produced by mammals and is mostly consumed by human beings in their day to day life. Milk contains various nutrients such as proteins, calcium, Vitamin D, Vitamin K, Vitamin E, Vitamin A, lactose and minerals which are essential for the well being of the human beings. It is sometimes found that there is a presence of infective bacteria in raw milk. These bacteria may cause various diseases in human beings when consumed. This leads to poor health of the people causing economic burden to them along with disruption of their daily activities. Hence, it is essential to identify the presence of disease causing bacteria to analyze the quality of milk in real time , thereby preventing people from buying the infected milk. This work concentrates on identification of concentration of various gases that is produced in the infected raw milk by the disease causing bacteria . This spoilt milk also emanates bad odour and causes change in taste of milk. The proposed system uses PIC microcontroller and gas sensors to detect the concentration of various gases that are produced by various disease causing bacteria in raw milk and sends the data from the sensors to the user via Bluetooth for analysis. This system is very much helpful in real time due to the detection of disease causing microbes that may be present in raw milk which can be identified by the presence of ethanol, acetic acid, propane, methane and acetaldehyde gases, thereby preventing the use of spoilt milk by the people in milk diaries or at home.