drinkworld Technology + Marketing 1/2023

Editorial
Keeping Milk Fresher for Longer
When I was a kid, I lived for a while
on a small farm. Milking the cows was
hard work, but drinking the warm
and creamy milk straightaway was
a reward, nothing added, nothing
taken away. Nowadays that would be
seriously frowned upon. Too much fat
or potential for dirt and disease are
only two of the dangers!
Half a century later, I am still here and
in reasonable health! Many of the main
challenges with milk production is in
distribution and keeping it fresher for
longer. In times where more people live
in cities than on farms and during the
pandemic, where visits to public places
were kept to an absolute minimum,
stockpiling foods and drinks was felt to
be a necessity; so this food needs to be
safe for as long as possible.
Milk has traditionally been pasteurised
using heat treatment to reduce
microorganisms and bacteria or
sterilised to remove them completely.
Pasteurised milk lasts longer if kept
refrigerated, whereas sterilised
products can be kept for longer and at
room temperature. Taste differences to
fresh milk meant it took a long time for
dairy drinks to become acceptable.
As health concerns became more
publicised, the move towards lower
fat content was accepted, where
separation technology removed the
cream. More recently organic milk has
become more popular, as well as nondairy
milk drinks using grains. This
initially came about as an alternative
and protest against the hormone
treatment for cows to increase yield.
In the meantime there are several
different processing options available to
reduce contamination in food and dairy
products. These include use of radio
frequency and microwave technologies,
as well as MST and raslysation.
Microsecond technology (MST) has the
ability to deliver the taste and nutrition
of HTST pasteurisation and the shelflife
benefits of UHT but with better
taste and nutritional benefits as well as
significant cost savings.
Raslysation is a non-thermal treatment
that uses UV-light combined with a
special flow pattern. It is a patented
technology from Denmark which
can treat the vast majority of liquid
products regardless of how opaque or
visocus they are independent of the
temperature to achieve the desired
Ian D. Healey
Editor-in-Chief
Photo: BB
microbial reduction. “UV is as effective
as heat against foodborner pathogen
and spoilage organisms, but it requires
less energy and water, has no effect on
taste and flavor and actually extends the
shelf-life of the liquids,“ states Tatiana
Koutchema, PhD, Research Scientist for
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Last year I was in Chicago for a few days.
I found it fascinating to visit the Lincoln
Park Zoo and watch city children learning
where milk really comes from. I’m sure
many readers can tell many stories all
around the food and beverage industry!
Cheers
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drinkworld Technology + Marketing · March 2023 3