Occurrence of adulterants and preservatives in the Milk Sold in Rural areas of Omdurman, Sudan

In the present investigation, the chemical composition of milk was determined and the detection of the presence of some additives and preservatives in raw cow milk obtained from rural area of Omdurman city Sudan was done. The milk samples (n= 120) were obtained from rural areas of North and South Omdurman. Significantly, (P≤0.05) higher values for the chemical constituents of the examined raw milk samples were reported in the samples from South Omdurman compared to those from North Omdurman. In addition, the results showed that the added water was found in 16.7% of the examined milk samples. Also, formaldehyde was used as a preservative in 19.2% of the samples, while boric acid was used as preservative in 25% of the milk samples in South Omdurman. However, sodium bicarbonate, hydrogen peroxide and starch were not detected. It was concluded that milk distributed in North and South Omdurman contains some adulterants. Hence control and monitoring programs should be directed towards the hygienic quality of milk during production and marketing.