Total Coliforms NMP/mL Thermo tolerant Coliforms NMP/mL Milk N Mean Milk N Mean Raw 50 5.41x1010 a Raw 50 3.48x1010 a Pasteurized 20 5.53x1010 a Pasteurized 20 7.16x108 b Means followed by the same letter do not show any statistical difference between them, according to the Tukey test with a probability of 5% (p<0.05).

Table 3: Arithmetic means of total coliforms and thermo tolerant coliforms comparing raw and pasteurized milk in all the municipalities of the Recôncavo region, State of Bahia, Brazil.