Microbiological testing was applied to gain an overview of the microbiological status of the different milk types at the end of shelf life, which can be seen as a worst case scenario at the latest moment of consumption. For this purpose the milk was stored at 8C as declared by the producers whereas at the retail level temperatures are usually much lower (2–6C). TVC of directly heated ESL milk did not show growth at 30C or 6.5C in six out of eight milk samples. Growth occurred in all samples (n = 6) of microfiltered ESL milk but did not occur in all of the respective cartons. Additionally, growth was observed in all samples (n = 5) and packs of HTST-heated milk. Two lots of HTSTheated milk (all five packs) and three packs of directly heated ESL milk showed growth indicative of spoilage. However, sample deterioration was not detected by visual and olfactory inspection. TVC ranges are displayed in Table 3. The colony counts detected in directly heated ESL milk are consistent with those reported by Blake et al. (1995) and Mayr et al. (2004). Analysis of variance showed that the TVC in directly heated ESL milk were significantly lower than in HTST-heated milk (P < 0.01). However, HTST-heated milk and microfiltered ESL milk did not show significant differences in TVC. Due to the low numbers of samples, these results should not be overestimated. A determination of growth curves was not aim of this study. Neither Enterococci, Enterobacteriaceae nor Listeria spp. were found in milk samples.