Vol. 19 No.4 July-August 1999
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We tested 4 brands of Pasteurised Table Butter and loose white
butter of Gokul dairy.
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The
brands tested include Amul, Verka, Vijaya and Vimal.
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Vijaya
(10 X 102/ml), Vimal (89 X 102/ml) and the loose butter of Gokul(403
X 102/ml) had a very high level of yeast and mould count. The
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) allows a maximum of 20/ml.
A high level of yeast and mould leads to spoilage of butter.
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High
levels of coliforms indicate poor quality maintained during
butter making and can lead to contamination of food.
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The
loose white butter of Gokul had 107 X 105/ml of coliform against
the limit of 5/ml.
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A
high diacetyl content may indicate insufficient ripening. The
PFA Act gives a maximum limit of 4.0 ppm. Vijaya (11.1 ppm)
and Verka (20.0 ppm) could not meet the specifications.
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Vijaya
did not meet the standards laid down by the BIS for common salt.
The BIS gives a limit of 2.5 per cent whereas Vijaya recorded
2.8 per cent.
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Butter
should contain as little curd as possible to ensure good storage
quality. The BIS has set a limit of 1.0 per cent. Verka (1.1%)
and Amul (1.2%) could not conform to the standards.
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The
loose white butter of Gokul could not conform to the requirements
for fat, moisture and acidity. It had only 59.9 per cent of
fat instead of the stipulated minimum of 80 per cent as per
the PFA Act and 82 per cent as per the BIS. The moisture was
found to be 49.3 per cent against the standard of maximum 16
per cent. A high moisture content encourages microbial growth.
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The
BIS permits an acidity of 0.06 per cent in loose butter. The
loose butter was well above the permissible limit and had an
acidity of 0.22 per cent.
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Vijaya
(100 gm), Verka (100 gm), Amul (100 gm) and Vimal (500 gm) weighed
97,98,99 and 495 gm respectively. However, one 500 gm packet
of Vijaya weighed 505 gm.
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The
loose white butter of Gokul (100 gm) weighed 104 gm.
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