| Milk is a complete and highly nutritious source of food for human beings. However, in many developing countries, including Nepal, the quality of milk products has become a major health concern for consumers, particularly for infants and children. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the quality of raw and pasteurized milk sold in Kathmandu valley, Nepal. A laboratory-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 57 (30 raw and 27 pasteurized) milk samples. Where samples were collected from the market using a simple random sampling technique. Both milk samples were placed for alcohol, acidity, fat, Total solid and Solid not fat tests and were 8 (26.67%), 11 (40.74%) positive for alcohol test, Acidity (43.33%, 59.26%) higher, fat content (51.85%, 60%) were below 3%, Total solid (50%, 92.59%) below 12%, and solid not fat (46.67%, 92.59%) less than 8% respectively for raw and pasteurized milk samples. Among three adulterants tested sugar and soda was found most commonly used adulterants than starch. Mesophilic count was found more in raw milk than pasteurized milk. Where coliform count was high in pasteurized milk. The milk samples were detected with 8 different bacteria with majoring Staphyloccocus aureus followed by Bacillus spp. and E. coli in both milk samples. Based on the findings of this study, the quality of raw and pasteurized milk was poor as per the milk quality standards. This may cause significant public health-related problems. Therefore, an appropriate intervention should be conducted to improve milk quality.
Keywords: SNF, Adulteration, Coliform, Bacterial count, Acidity.
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