Bacteriological Screening of Donor Human Milk Before and After Holder Pasteurization

A wide variety of bacteria contaminate human milk from donor mothers. Most milk samples grew coagulase-negative Staphylococcus and Gram-negative organisms. Although normal skin flora was cultured typically from milk samples, there were also many prepasteurization milk samples contaminated with pathogenic organisms. Holder pasteurization was, however, an effective means by which to remove any detectable bacteria from samples of donor human milk.