Abstract: Objective To investigate the contamination of pathogens in milk powders.Methods Different kinds of milk powders were sampled from main consuming places such as supermarkets, online stores in 10 provinces in China in 2003.All the samples were detected for Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella with national food safety standard methods.Results In 2 735 samples, the detection rate of Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella were 16.78%, 0.51%, and 0.04%, respectively.The positive rate of Bacillus cereus in formulated milk powder was higher than that in whole milk powder.There were no statistically significant differences in pathogen detection rate for milk powder samples from main sampling places(farmer's market, supermarket and online shop) and those collected in different seasons, althouth the pathogen detection rate for milk powder produced druing the third and forth quarter was higher than that during other quarters of a year.Conclusion There is pathogen contamination in milk powders available in retail markets and hygiene quality of milk powder still needs to be concerned.