Total Bacterial count was performed in 179 raw milk samples from different dairy farms in Minas Gerais State, Brazil, through flow cytometry and standard plate count, that was regarded as the reference method. There was significant strong correlation between the values of psychrotrophic and mesophilic counts determined by the reference method with the values of bacterial count determined by flow cytometry (r = 0.67 and 0.70, respectively), which allowed to establish linear regression equations for bacterial count to calibrate the flow cytometry and estimate the count of mesophilic (log bacterial individual count (BIC) by flow cytometry = 0.701 log mesophilic + 1.9091) and psychrotrophic (log BIC by flow cytometry = 0.4703 log psychrotrophic + 3.2784) bacteria. It was not possible to establish calibration curves for thermophiles and thermodurics due to the weak to moderate correlation coefficients found among these microorganism counts and total bacterial count determined by flow cytometry (r = 0.30 and 0.27, respectively).
bulk tank milk; milk quality; milk
