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The aim of this paper is to assess the current situation in the sale of milk through vending machines in the context of the previous period of the decline in milk consumption, the transition of the Czech Republic towards the market economy, the transformation of agriculture, the entry into the EU and the concentration in the milk market and to define the basic motivational factors and barriers of the development of this distribution path. Technical problems with sales, intent to diversify milk selling and aiming the high profitability of the sale are the reasons for operating vending machines that are correlated with the share of this selling channel on producers' total sales of milk. Vending machines are inhibited by misinformation from state authorities; other problems are weak support by media and low consumer awareness. The expectations of the operators concerning the development of the situation of the milk vending machines are rather optimistic: 36% of them expect an increase in sales, 48% expect the stagnation and only 16% expect the decrease.

It is known that raw milk can contain microorganisms that are harmful to health. In light of the increasing number of machines where raw milk is sold via raw milk vending systems, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) has assessed the risk for food infections with the Campylobacter bacterium resulting from the milk dispensed from these raw milk vending machines. The assessment also addresses the question of whether the more frequent occurrence of outbreaks of illness due to Campylobacter infections (Campylobacter enteritis or Campylobacteriosis) could be associated with the increase in the number of points of sale for raw milk and in particular raw milk vending machines. As there are no validated empirical data, the preliminary assessment of the BfR is based on the working hypothesis that changes in consumer behaviour entailing the increased consumption of raw milk from the so-called "milk vending machines" is leading to more frequent outbreaks of Campylobacter. One of the main sources of contamination of the raw milk is faecal contamination during the milking process. Unlike most known foodborne pathogens, these bacteria cannot multiply in the raw milk. However, just a few Campylobacter cells are enough to cause infection. The BfR therefore advises consumers to always comply with the instruction displayed at the point of sale stating "raw milk – boil before consumption". The BfR also advises against preparing and consuming non-heated ("cold") cocoa drinks or other milkshakes made from raw milk both directly on-site and at home (also see the BfR FAQ on the consumption of raw milk http://www.bfr.bund.de/cm/349/questions-and-answers-on-the-consumption-of-raw-milk.pdf ). The full version of this BfR Information is available in German on http://www.bfr.bund.de/cm/343/rohmilch-abkochen-schuetzt-vor-infektionen-mitcampylobacter.pdf

The microbiological quality of raw milk from the perspective of the health of dairy products is one of the most important features. The amount of microorganisms is influenced by storage temperature and time of milk. In the thesis was observed dynamics of total bacteria count (TBC) in raw milk depending on the selected factors (months, seasons, point of collection, the length of storage). To life of microorganisms contributes warm weather. The largest increase in TBC was observed in the months of April and May to 108 thousand /1 Ml. It is necessary to place great emphasis on rapid cooling of milk (max 150 min.) to the desired temperature (8 °C). Increase TBC could be caused by long transportation time of sampling raw milk from a milk vending machine to evaluate the quality and microbiological indicators. In the second part of the thesis are compares the quality and microbiological characteristics of raw milk from selected milk vending machines. When evaluating the samples taken from the farm, average values of TBC were higher (43 thousand/ml) compared to samples collected from the milk vending machines (6 thousand/ml). Reason of higher values from farms could be caused by poor hygiene of the milk and his secondary contaminations. In contrast, the average results from samples taken from the milk vending machines were more than excellent. That´s shows tight control of cooling milk during transportation from the farm to the milk vending machine. Next reason better results is right cooling and to maintain a constant temperature in the grades (from 0.5 to 1 °C). That´s temperature, which prevents the growth of microorganisms.

The theoretical part of this work deals with a conventional and enviromental breeding of cattle and then with the production, quality and consumption of conventional and organic milk within the Czech Republic. It also describes the development of the cost prices paid by dairies to farmers. Practical part of the work presents the evaluation of the quastionnaire investigation concentrated on the vending milk machine owners and then on producers or distributors of these devices that were in operation at the investigated territories (at the territories of South Bohemia and Prague) at the time of the beginning of this work. The questioned people were asked by phone, rarely and at their own request they answered by email. The results were formed into the conclusion related to the economic justification of the operation of these devices. Futher possibilities of the development of this distribution of milk including new trends have been suggested.

The aim of this work was to evaluate opportunities of raw milk sales. The questionnaire was submitted to respondents, which assessed the direct sale of milk, consumption, awareness about milk quality connecting with the sales of raw milk using a vending machines.