Table 1.

Published microbiological screening criteria for acceptance of donor human milk prior to and after pasteurization.

Guideline	Pre-pasteurization: Total confluent bacterial growth	Pre-pasteurization: Additional criteria	Post-pasteurization
France: Bonnes pratiques des lactariums2	Total (aerobic) flora ≤ 106 CFU/mL	Staphylococcus aureus ≤ 104 CFU/mL	Any microbial growth
Italy: Guidelines for the establishment and operation of a donor human milk bank (13)	≤ 105 CFU/mL	Enterobacteriaceae or Staphylococcus aureus ≤ 104 CFU/mL	≤ 10 CFU any organism
Sweden: Guidelines for the use of human milk and milk handling in Sweden 1	Total aerobic bacteria: No upper limit	• Any pathogenic bacteria from the following‘: • Betahemolytic Streptococci group A, C, or G, Streptococci group B, Listeria, or Salmonella <104 CFU/ml • Enterobacteriaceae • Staphylococcus aureus • Pseudomonas aeruginosa or other Pseudomonas species • Stenotrophomonas maltophilia • Acinetobacter species	Total aerobic count ≤ 10 CFU/ml. No pathogenic bacteria are accepted
United Kingdom: NICE Clinical Guideline 93. Donor milk banks; service operation (14)	≤ 105 CFU/mL	Enterobacteriaceae or Staphylococcus aureus ≤ 104 CFU/mL	≤ 10 CFU any organism
Australia: Best practice guidelines for the operation of a donor human milk bank in an Australian NICU (20)	≤ 105 CFU/mL	Any Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococci or potential pathogens capable of producing heat-stable enterotoxins	Any microbial growth
United States of America (HMBANA): Guidelines for the Establishment and Operation of a Donor Human Milk Bank 2018a	Pre-pasteurization testing not included in the recommendations	Pre-pasteurization testing not included in the recommendations	“Any bacteriological growth is unacceptable for heat-processed milk”

^aHuman Milk Bank Association of North America. http://hmbana.org.