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Food purchasing behaviour is influenced by economic factors such as price and income, as well as by non‐economic factors such as concern about diet and health, growth of vegetarianism, convenience, household′s life cycle and advertising. Reports on a survey in Chania, the second largest city of Crete, to determine the factors that affect the purchasing behaviour of fresh pasteurized milk and to identify the attitudes and perceptions of consumers towards it. Reveals that the concern about health of consumers, strong advertising campaigns, as well as the age and economic status of respondents, influence consumer choice towards fresh pasteurized milk. Finally, scrutinizes the attitude of the majority of consumers towards fresh pasteurized milk although concentrated milk (the basic competitor) still has the biggest market share in Chania.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of health information and sensory attributes on consumer’s propensity to upgrade and their willingness to pay (WTP) for pasteurized milk in Ethiopia.

The authors used a framed market experiment with 160 participants in 14 central locations in urban Ethiopia. The authors used a double hurdle model to analyze consumer willingness to shift to pasteurized milk and their WTP for quality attributes in pasteurized milk.

Consumers are willing to pay a 4 percent premium for quality attributes in pasteurized milk. Male and employed participants are willing to shift and pay a premium for pasteurized milk. Conversely, consumers with more children, higher income, and higher raw milk consumption are less likely to shift to pasteurized milk. These results also show that taste is negatively related to consumer propensity to upgrade to pasteurized milk. Further, about half of the consumers who were provided with health information are willing to pay a premium of 11 percent for pasteurized milk, whereas others would pay only 6 percent. After providing the treatment group with health information, those consumers with higher income, old people and consumers with children are less likely to shift to pasteurized milk. Overall, consumer preference for raw milk is the result of taste, perceived nutrition and perceived health benefits. The study points at a segmented milk market and the consequent need for the provision of a targeted milk market promotion.

The application of experimental auctions in developing countries requires an extensive learning exercise for participants.

The authors used a non-hypothetical valuation mechanism to unravel the effect of subjective and intrinsic milk attributes in fluid milk choice decisions and its variation across socio-economic groups in a developing country context.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if there is a difference in hygiene parameters of raw milk produced in organic and conventional farm of similar size. In parallel, the aim was to determine if there are differences in pasteurized organic and conventional milk samples delivered on the market.

Raw milk samples were analyzed for aerobic colony count (ACC), somatic cell count (SCC), acidity, temperature, fat and protein content. On the other side, final products of organic and conventional pasteurized milk with 2.8 percent declared milk fat were analyzed for Raman spectroscopy, color change and sensorial difference.

Results of raw milk analysis showed statistically significant differences in fat content, SCC, acidity, temperature and ACC (p<0.05). It is of note that ACC for organic milk were lower for approx. 1 log CFU/ml compared to conventional milk samples. Pasteurized organic milk samples had a significantly higher L* value than those samples originating from conventional farms, indicating that organic is “more white” compared to conventional milk. According to the results of triangle test, with 95 percent confidence no more than 10 percent of the population is able to detect a difference.

A limitation of this research is the fact that good veterinary practices at farms, namely, animal health and adequate usage of medicine for treating the animals, animal welfare and animal feeding were not analyzed.

This study analyzed potential differences in organic and conventional milk at two important production stages of the milk chain – at receipt at dairy plant (raw milk) and perceived by consumers (final product).

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influences of consumer perceptions of labelled information and sensory attributes on consumers’ intention to buy fresh milk.

An experiment was conducted on 117 consumers in a lab at a university. After closely inspecting the labels’ information and tasting two types of milk, participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire, using the direct interview method. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were applied to analyse the data.

The results show that products’ labelled information and the sensory perceptions increase the buying intention of both ultra-high temperature treated fresh milk (UFM) and pasteurised fresh milk (PFM). The sensory perceptions of PFM can mediate the relationship between products’ labels and consumer buying intentions, but this relationship is not true for UFM. According to our results, nutritional facts and taking responsibility for one’s health are the keys to fresh milk commercialisation in terms of higher relative weights and commonness.

Although the sensory aspects of milk have been rigorously evaluated in the food science literature, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, few studies have focussed on the sensory perceptions of fresh milk incorporating process categories (UFM and PFM) and their mediating effect between labelled information and buying intention in the social sciences. The study is pioneering in that it investigates the perceptions of sensory attributes affecting consumer purchasing decisions for fresh milk in an emerging market.

The bulk of milk sold in this country is pasteurized whole milk. This is normally made by the high temperature‐short time (HTST) process in which the milk is heated to 72°C, held there for 15 seconds, and then cooled using a very rapid heat exchanger. Pasteurization destroys all the pathogenic organisms and about 99% of the other bacteria in milk.

1. Under section 3 of the Milk and Dairies (Amendment) Act, 1922, the designations “Certified Milk,” “Grade A Milk,” “Pasteurised Milk” and other similar designations may only be used where a licence to sell milk under those designations has been granted by the Minister of Health or with his authority. Licences are required in the case of either Certified, Grade A (Tuberculin Tested), or Grade A Milk, both by the farmer who produces the milk and by every dealer who sells it. In the case of Pasteurised Milk a licence is required by the person who pasteurises it and by any other dealer who sells the milk.

The recent epidemic of food poisoning at Nelson, Lancashire, is an event which is unfortunately not unknown in this country, especially in summer time. It has been said that at least two hundred people have been affected more or less seriously, and that there have been four deaths from acute gastro enteritis. Cases of suspected food poisoning are now in many places compulsorily notifiable to the local authority by medical practitioners to whose notice such cases may have been brought in the course of their practice. As far as we know such notification was not made compulsory before the year 1924, when Wakefield obtained powers under a Corporation Act to do so. A large number of places since that time have followed the lead of Wakefield. Thus among watering places, Cleethorpes, Bridlington, Brighton and Bournemouth; among manufacturing centres, Sheffield, Stoke‐on‐Trent, Bradford, Blackburn, Oldbury, Smethwick, Cardiff and Rochdale have powers of compulsory notification.—Cheap, rapid, and frequent means of road and rail transport has in these days resulted in an enormously increased influx of holiday makers from the manufacturing centres into seaside towns during the summer. Here, then, is a floating population amounting to several thousands. They are at a place that has been freely and emphatically advertised as a health resort. The have come for a “change” in every sense of the word. It is high summer. The weather is hot. The holiday spirit in the air. A very natural result is for people to eat more fruit, ice cream, and fancy dishes than they would ordinarily do. Assume through some mischance there are one or two cases of food poisoning. These are now automatically reported to the local authority, which at once institutes investigations, tries to trace the evil to its source, and check it from spreading. A serious outbreak is a damning catastrophe for the place, and may adversely affect its future for years to come. In manufacturing centres the need for action on the part of the local authority is still more urgent. The danger is perennial. It may easily reach the dimensions of an epidemic in a poor and crowded district. The people are there from necessity not from choice, and there they would have to stay even if the place were swept by cholera. In the County of London notification is compulsory under the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1932, Pt. II., s.7, which says : “ Every registered medical practitioner, if he suspects that a person is suffering from food poisoning shall notify the Medical Officer of Health for the district.” This section it is pointed out, was drawn up on the lines of the Sheffield Corporation Act, 1928, s.190, one of the main Corporation Acts that insist on notification. There seems indeed to be a growing belief that compulsory notification of food poisoning is desirable in the interests of public health. Processed foods are particularly liable to become sources of infection. Thus the Act just quoted, Pt. II. s.5, states that premises used for the sale or manufacture of ice cream; or for the preparation or manufacture of sausages or potted, pressed, pickled, or preserved meat, fish or other food must be registered with the Sanitary Authority of the district. Under the same section registration may be refused or registration may be cancelled. Many towns have similar regulations. This section of the London County Act is founded on the Exeter Corporation Act, 1928, s.111. The fact that the London County Council have adopted these two regulations that had already been “ tried out ” in two important cities of such widely different interests as Sheffield and Exeter is a good illustration of how closely associated all municipal bodies are in matters connected with public health. Medical Officers of Health and Public Analysts are officers of the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry itself is a clearing house for general information, investigation, and the co‐ordination of statistics. The sanitary authority of, and the medical practitioners in, any given district discharge not only admittedly most important but, as it seems to us, complementary duties. Each has knowledge not possessed by the other. Diagnosis in cases of suspected food poisoning is by no means easy. Time is not on the doctor's side so that the sooner the sanitary authority is notified the better are the chances of being able to trace the trouble to its source and to deal with it— assuming, of course, that it did not originate in some piece of purely domestic carelessness or ignorance. The information acquired may be slight, or even negative in any given case, but in the aggregate a fund of knowledge must accumulate that cannot fail in the long run to be of value. In many cases of suspected food poisoning further investigation has shown that they are not due to food poisoning at all. For instance, in one borough nine cases reported were found to be due to “ dietetic indiscretion ”; in another twenty reported cases were only forms of more or less acute digestive disturbance of the ordinary kind; in another it was found that daffodil bulbs had been eaten in mistake for onions. Other instances could be given. Facts like these would seem to support the argument that compulsory notification is unnecessary, but it is surely better that twenty suppositious cases should be reported than that the circumstances of one real case should escape investigation. In other cases the cause may remain unknown, but as to the seriousness of the matter there can be no doubt. In a recent outbreak in a home for “unwanted” children out of thirty‐nine infants in one dormitory twenty‐seven were attacked, and twenty died in from two to four days from some obscure form of gastro enteritis. Bacteriological examination of excreta and vomit yielded negative results. The high rate of mortality was attributed to the poor physical condition of the children when they were admitted to the institution in which they died. The case is admittedly an extreme one. Another was reported of exactly the opposite character. Twelve cases of undoubted food poisoning were reported, but these were of so slight a character that no action was taken in regard to the circumstances. In general, however, there is no room for giving the benefit of the doubt. The error—even if it may be so called—of reporting what turns out to be a case of indigestion instead of one of food poisoning is an error on the right side. A question arose recently in the House of Commons as to whether it was necessary to retain an Act on the Statute Book when there had been no prosecutions under the Act. It will be remembered that the Solicitor‐General replied that the mere fact that the Act was on the Statute Book had a very salutary effect. As far as it may be possible to draw an analogy it seems that even better reasons exist not only for retaining, but for extending, compulsory notification of cases of suspected food poisoning. Registration and inspection of premises, plant, storage conditions, and the food itself in places where food is prepared and sold is now a general practice in all centres of population. How necessary this is a glance at the Law Reports of this journal will show. The state of the places mentioned in the records of the prosecution was often such as to ensure them being potential centres of food poisoning. Had it not been for the vigilance of the respective sanitary authorities they would have become actively and permanently so. Such prosecutions are comparatively rare having regard to the large number of food shops in existence, but it would certainly be a backward step to cease to register and to inspect.

There is much to justify the old “ saw ” that what is one man's food may be another man's poison. Even among healthy individuals this holds true; and it is explained by a peculiarity of constitution attaching to some individuals that may be termed, in non‐technical language, idiosyncrasy.

The presence of Bacillus sporothermodurans in retail UHT milk along with milk from different points of a processing line was determined. This paper aims to investigate the effect of chilling, pre‐heating, UHT, reprocessing and H₂O₂ individually and in combination on the survival of B. sporothermodurans in broth.

Standard plate counts were conducted for all milk samples and isolates from UHT milk were characterised using PCR. BS vegetative cells and spores in broth were subjected to various stresses encountered, during UHT processing of milk. Survival counts were conducted after all treatments.

B. sporothermodurans was detected in retail UHT milk packs from only one processor. UHT treatment at 140°C for 4s eliminated B. sporothermodurans in broth. The combination of chilling and UHT was more effective in eliminating B. sporothermodurans spores than UHT treatment alone. H₂O₂ was also effective in eliminating B. sporothermodurans spores after 15 min of exposure. The adopted real time (RT) PCR with SYBR Green method was effective for the confirmation of B. sporothermodurans.

This research is the first to be conducted with regards to the detection of B. sporothermodurans in UHT milk in South Africa and determining the effect of UHT processing stresses on their survival. These results can be used to design processing parameters so as to effectively eliminate B. sporothermodurans spores during UHT processing. This research is the first in which RT PCR with SYBR Green has been used to characterise B. sporothermodurans.

The purpose of this paper is to examine challenges and opportunities that occurred in the Polish ultra‐high temperature (UHT) milk market after Poland entered the European Union.

Through an in‐depth analysis of the Polish UHT market and by interpreting statistical data, this paper analyzes the retailing, production, and distribution channels, branding, and potential changes in the marketing perspective of the UHT market in Poland. To understand the nature of the market, this paper employs a marketing science method, marketing persistence analysis, to explore the relationship of short‐term marketing efforts and long‐term market response in Polish UHT milk market.

Based on empirical testing of ten Polish brands, results show that the UHT milk market in Poland presents marketing persistence, which means that short‐term marketing efforts can generate long‐term revenue effects.

If marketing spending data are available, causality tests can be performed to see what are most effective marketing means (e.g. TV advertising or sale promotion) in Polish dairy markets.

Combining the empirical findings with the facts that previous marketing activities in Poland are relatively low, and it is now a historic transition for Poland after joining the homogenous market of Europe, the authors suggest that existing marketers increase the marketing investment to strengthen brands, gain market share, and build long‐term customer relationships. International marketers also have good opportunities now to enter Polish UHT markets through intensive marketing campaigns.

This study is the first attempt to apply marketing science techniques to examine the Polish market and the findings enable both academic researchers and industrial practitioners to understand this market better and explore its potential business opportunities.