Thermoduric Bacteria in Milk- A Review

Thermoduric bacteria are organisms capable of surviving the industrial pasteurization process of milk, and can carry over into product causing quality defects, or creating health hazards. The various species of genus Bacillus, Microbacterium, Micrococcus, Enterococcus, Lactobacillus and Corynebacterium are described as heat resistant species (Marth and Steele, 2001). A thermoduric bacterium in milk is significant due to their ability to survive the pasteurization temperature and subsequently carried to pasteurized milk. The organisms may cause loss of economy to the farmers by spoilage of the milk or may cause serious health hazards to the consumers.