The objective of this study was to characterize the role of milk components in the recovery of enteric viruses. In order to evaluate the impact of various components of milk four model milk solutions were constituted by adding lactose, whey protein, casein and fat indifferent combinations. Each model solution was spiked with six levels of MS2 coliphage (48, 4.8×102, 4.8×103, 4.8×104, 4.8×105, 4.8×106pfu/ml).The soluble and unsoluble components were separated by centrifuging at 40000g and viruses were enumerated by using double agar layer (DAL) technique. In case of samples spiked with low numbers of MS2 (less than 4.8×105 pfu/ml), components did not have any impact on recovery, but this confirmed in higher spiked. Higher recovery efficiency was achieved in all of the precipitation from all models, except in the model D (lactose + whey protein + casein + fat). The highest number of coliphage was recovered from the precipitation of model C (lactose + whey protein + casein). In general, higher number of MS2 was detected in the supernatants of all of the models. The dry matter contents of milk are related with the recovery efficiency of virus. Based on the results it can be concluded that the best recovery of enteric viruses in raw milk chould be achieved by eliminating the milk, whey and casein (by centrifugation at 40000g) before sample analyses.

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