Percepção De Qualidade No Processo Produtivo Do Leite: Um Estudo De Caso No Rio Grande Do Sul

The main objective of this work was to analyze the perception of quality in the milk production chain among farmers and the industry in a cooperative located at the north of Rio Grande do Sul state (Cooproleite). The mandatory milk production patterns at the farming level were identified based on the official government document “IN 51”. Then, the variations between expectations and perception related to those patterns were analyzed at the farming and industry levels. The research method used was the case study, which consisted of 514 active producing members of the cooperative, from which a random probability sample of 54 producers was extracted, and the 2 industries with which these producers market their product. The results show that milk production at the farmer level does not meet both their own expectations and the industry’s. The lower perception scores among the farmers were related to brucellosis and tuberculosis control, feed and milk cooling. For the industries, the milkers’ personal hygiene, discard of the first jets and washing of cows’ teats were the attributes perceived to have lower quality. In conclusion, we found that the variations of perceptions between the farming and the industry levels pose difficulties in establishing improvements and indicate the necessity of greater coordination in the production chain.