UHT milk shelf life

Should I give milk to my baby?

But let's start in order. There are so many misunderstandings and even rumors surrounding milk that debates about at what age a child can be given milk are still ongoing. Some people think this product is useless. Some people think milk is completely harmful. But many will hear stories from their lives or from the lives of relatives, saying that it was thanks to the presence of cow's milk in the house that the child was able to survive and is healthy and happy to this day. A bottle of milk a day could create a real miracle and save a baby who had nothing to feed.

However, there are other stories that indicate that the child’s body was unable to absorb the nutrients in the drink, and milk had to be replaced with other products. Most likely, parents already know how their baby tolerates lactose in milk, and they know what it (milk) can be replaced with in modern conditions. Everything that was written above was written about full-fledged and real milk.

Boiling

After boiling, milk can be stored for 3 to 4 days. And if you lower the temperature to 0 degrees - up to 7 days.

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It is imperative to boil products purchased from strangers, even if they verbally guarantee its quality. There are cases where people, drinking raw milk, became infected with such a dangerous disease as brucellosis. This infection is transmitted from a sick animal and affects the organs and central nervous system of humans. Boiling completely kills pathogenic microorganisms, and such a product will be safe to consume.

But there is also a downside to this. Products that have been exposed to high temperatures are no longer as healthy as fresh ones. During the boiling process, protein remains in large quantities on the walls of the container. Changes concern calcium and phosphorus - it becomes more difficult for the body to absorb them. With prolonged heating above 100°C, vitamins C and D decompose, and a significant part of the protein is also lost.

From what age?

At what age can a child be given pasteurized milk? Modern nutritionists are adamant. They do not recommend introducing store-bought dairy products into a child’s diet before the age of three. The thing is that a bottle of milk may contain various additives that are not intended for children's use. Although, most likely, such an incident happens more often with cheaper products. Children who are bottle-fed are allowed to introduce pasteurized milk into their diet from the age of one year.

Ultrapasteurization - what's the secret?

Now any more or less literate person understands that buying fresh, unprocessed milk in a store is very dangerous, since, first of all, such an environment serves as an excellent basis for the proliferation of all kinds of bacteria and microorganisms. You can, of course, boil milk, but then it will lose the lion’s share of nutrients and microelements, which is why more advanced heat treatment methods are currently used.

Ultra-pasteurization - heating to a temperature of 150 degrees for just four seconds, and then quickly reducing the temperature to 4-5 degrees.

In such an environment, all pathogenic microorganisms and spores harmful to humans, as well as enzymes that lead to rapid spoilage of the product, die. This fact explains that we can store bags of UHT milk at room temperature for months. However, if the package has already been opened, the shelf life is limited to only 4 days.

There is an opinion that ultra-pasteurization kills all useful substances and vitamins, but this is not so. Despite the fact that it neutralizes pathogenic bacteria, the entire vitamin composition is completely preserved in the milk.

Ultra-pasteurized milk is a great achievement of scientists, which has made it possible to enjoy this healthy product with the greatest benefits for the body. Its beneficial effects are manifested in the following:

Retains all the necessary vitamins and minerals, protein and essential calcium for the body
It contains special enzymes that allow milk to be best absorbed by the body without negatively affecting digestion.
To produce such a product, only high-quality raw materials are required, which means that when buying a box of tetrapack, you can be sure that you are holding a useful product in your hands.
Research has confirmed that this is the best option for feeding children. They develop better and faster by regularly taking UHT milk.
One of the main advantages of this type is its shelf life and safety.

For men

What are the benefits of milk for the body of a person engaged in heavy physical labor or experiencing a lot of stress? It turns out that the benefits are considerable. For the male body, drinking milk is necessary. It replenishes the required amount of proteins. This is important because men are more likely to undergo strenuous physical work or attend strength training in gyms. The need for protein and carbohydrates increases significantly and is replenished with milk, because milk protein is a builder of muscle tissue. Yes, and protein shakes are mostly made based on milk.

Shelf life depending on processing method

The most important characteristic that determines how long milk can be stored, no matter whether it is packaged in a bottle or bag, is the method of its processing. On store shelves you can find milk, the shelf life of which ranges from several days to several months.

How do manufacturers manage to increase it so much? There is an opinion that shelf-stable milk is unnatural, however, modern processing methods make it possible to preserve ordinary cow's milk for such a long period without losing its beneficial properties.

Important! Long-life milk may contain preservatives, so you should study the composition before purchasing; it should not contain chemicals.

What processing methods exist and how much do they increase storage duration:

Raw. You can buy this at a spontaneous market or from farmers. It must be boiled before eating. The quality of such products cannot be monitored, so they may contain pathogenic microorganisms. Without boiling milk, the shelf life is 2 days, for boiled milk up to 5 days.
Sterilized. This product is treated with high temperature (over 100 degrees) under pressure for several seconds. The sterilization process kills all germs, and with them most of the goodness. Shelf life: up to 6 months in unopened original packaging.
Pasteurized. The drink is heated to a temperature of 70–75 degrees. Due to this, it is possible to increase the shelf life to 5 days and at the same time preserve more useful substances.
Ultra-pasteurized milk. Such a product is heated to 137 degrees for a few seconds and sharply cooled to 20 degrees. This method allows you to preserve milk in an unopened bottle for up to 6 months. After ultra-pasteurization, the drink does not spoil, since all lactic acid bacteria are destroyed.

Thus, today there are ways to preserve the freshness and benefits of this beloved drink for a long time. However, processed milk is indeed much safer than raw milk. Sometimes production uses aseptic bags for packaging, which minimize the possibility of the development of pathogenic microflora.

Ghee

Baked milk is essentially concentrated regular milk. It contains more fat and calcium. The process does not use high-temperature heat treatment, so most of the vitamins are preserved. The drink is subjected to prolonged heating to 85–95 degrees. Store it exclusively in the refrigerator in a closed container. Shelf life is up to 7–10 days.

Condensed

In the process of preparing condensed milk, prolonged heating to high temperatures occurs, so there is little benefit left in such a product; its main consumer property is taste. The shelf life of condensed milk is from 1 to 2–3 years.

Milk powder is the solid residue of milk after all the moisture has dried. It can be stored in a cupboard at room temperature for a long time. If the raw material has been skimmed, the shelf life of powdered milk is 3 years from the date of manufacture; whole milk is stored for 10 months - after this time the fats in it may go rancid.

Ultra-pasteurization of milk allows you to preserve most of the vitamins, as well as protein, in unchanged quantities. And vitamin E in milk decreases after such treatment. Milk protein is an extremely important component of the drink: according to GOST, more than 2.8% of it can be present in all types, but not less.

The mass fraction of fat in milk does not change depending on the processing method. A whole sterilized and pasteurized product can have a fat content of 3.2% or higher. The amount of carbohydrates in any form ⎼ from 4.7 g.

Ultra-pasteurized milk is completely free from harmful microorganisms and is best suited for complete absorption.

What is ultra-pasteurization of milk? We are grateful to the Frenchman Louis Pasteur for the discovery of this beverage processing process. Pasteurization involves heat treatment of a product at a certain temperature. Next comes its sharp cooling. Thus, all germs and bacteria in the milk die.

However, vitamins, minerals and other substances beneficial to humans remain without time to be destroyed. During pasteurization, the temperature ranges from 60 to 130 degrees.

Thanks to different temperature conditions, we get different types of milk:

70-74° – pasteurized milk; storage – no more than 10 days;
90° and kept at this temperature for 4 hours – baked milk, shelf life – 1 month;
110° – sterilized, to which salts and stabilizers are added to prevent the milk from quickly souring; can be stored for six months;
125-130° – ultra-pasteurized. With such heat treatment, intense heating and rapid cooling to 20 degrees are important. Shelf life is from 4 months to a year.

You should not boil UHT milk - it has already been heat-treated, and additional heating will destroy beneficial bacteria and microorganisms.

More recently, many buyers were afraid that these types of products contain antibiotics, which prevent the natural product from deteriorating quickly. Expert Olga Sokolova, a researcher at the Central Laboratory of Microbiology of the All-Russian Research Institute of the Dairy Industry, is in a hurry to reassure dairy lovers.

According to her, it is true that some antibiotics and other substances were previously added to pasteurized milk. GOST allowed this. But according to the latest revisions of the standards, any additional substances in the drink were prohibited.

It is also worth noting that there is milk of varying degrees of fat content, which can also be processed. We often wonder when we see numbers with percentages on a pack of dairy products: what does this mean? The numbers indicate the fat content of milk:

3.5% - whole, fat;
3.2% - normal fat content;
4-6% - increased fat content;
2.5% – reduced fat content of the product.

For women

Women who regularly consume milk and dairy products not only have healthy and beautiful teeth. Milk gives strength and beauty to their hair and nails. All this happens thanks to the iodine and calcium included in the drink.

Pregnancy and lactation must be accompanied by the intake of additional elements found in dairy products. From there the body will take the necessary strength for the successful development of the situation.

Cosmetic procedures for the skin can be carried out based on this magical drink. The skin is an organ that can be nourished with more than just oxygen. Washing with milk, masks and baths will rejuvenate and give beauty to any woman.

According to GOST

And now about how pasteurized drinking milk is obtained according to GOST. The product is heated to sixty degrees. After one hour, the milk cools quickly. Thanks to this method, bacteria that can cause spoilage of the product die in drinking milk, pasteurized according to GOST. At the same time, a large number of various pathogenic microorganisms that may be in the fresh steamed product die.

The good thing about this method is that the milk remains almost as healthy as if it had just come from the cow. But the fresh product would never survive the journey to the store so that city children and adults could enjoy it. And the shelf life of pasteurized milk increases significantly compared to the shelf life of fresh whole product.

Pasteurization

Pasteurization

- the process of
one-time
heating of liquid products or substances to 60 ° C for 60 minutes or at a temperature of 70-80 ° C for 30 minutes. This technology was discovered in the mid-19th century by French microbiologist Louis Pasteur—hence the name. It is used to disinfect food products, as well as to extend their shelf life.

During pasteurization, vegetative forms in the product die

microorganisms, however,
the spores remain
in a viable state and, when favorable conditions arise, begin to develop intensively. Therefore, pasteurized products (milk, beer, etc.) are stored at low temperatures for only a short time.

It is believed that the nutritional value of products remains virtually unchanged during pasteurization, since the taste and valuable components (vitamins, enzymes) are preserved.

Depending on the type and properties of food raw materials, different pasteurization modes are used. There are long-term

(at a temperature of 63-65 °C for 30-40 minutes),
short
(at a temperature of 85-90 °C for 0.5-1 minutes) and
flash
pasteurization (at a temperature of 98 °C for a few seconds).

Although such milk retains most of the beneficial components, it is not completely free from microbes, so it sours quickly. Pasteurization does not completely protect against germs and harmful bacteria - while getting rid of some, it only makes others (spores) less active. They are waiting in the wings.

Therefore, pasteurized milk does not last long - even if sealed and refrigerated, it can only be stored for a few days. At room temperature, its life is reduced to several hours.

Shelf life of pasteurized milk

And yet, only pasteurized ones can be considered the most “living” product. It is subject to less stringent measures to increase its shelf life than sterilized and ultra-pasteurized milk.

The shelf life of pasteurized milk depends on the conditions in which it will be kept. It is important to consider whether the package of milk has been opened or is hermetically sealed and has not been opened. If you brought a dairy product from the store sealed in an airtight container, then it will last longer.

The shelf life of pasteurized milk (even in sealed, undamaged packaging) exposed to sunlight is significantly reduced. And a huge proportion of useful substances are destroyed when stored in light.

Question No. 12: Can plant milk be considered an alternative to cow's milk?

Many people mistakenly believe that a product subjected to conventional pasteurization is more useful than an ultra-pasteurized one, due to the fact that it is subjected to heat treatment at a lower temperature, which helps preserve more nutrients in it.

However, when clarifying the question of how pasteurization differs from ultra-pasteurization, it is necessary first of all to pay attention not to the level of temperatures used, but to the duration of their effect on the product.

The lower temperatures used in the production of pasteurized milk affect the product immeasurably longer than the higher temperatures used in the production of UHT milk.

As a result, lower temperatures do not allow the pasteurized product to be rid of bacterial spores, and prolonged heat treatment destroys some of the beneficial substances inside it.

In the case of the product under discussion, short-term exposure to high temperatures guarantees its complete disinfection while simultaneously almost completely preserving all its beneficial properties.

If you manage to find a farmer from whom it is convenient to purchase raw materials, then you should check its quality:

Milk must not be pasteurized. We are talking about the absence of factory pasteurization. In principle, 9 out of 10 farmers sell unpasteurized milk. But even gentle pasteurization done by the farmer in order to extend the shelf life of milk will not greatly spoil the recipe of the future cheese.
We buy only fresh milk. It is highly undesirable to use yesterday’s product or one that is already more than 12 hours old in the process of making cheese. From the moment the milk is released to the start of making the cheese, 4-5 hours should pass.
Dairy raw materials must be visually clean, without any foreign substances.
It sounds corny, but milk should smell like milk! Foreign odors will be transferred to the future cheese.
Milk should not be frozen - this is especially important in winter.
And no water! This is exactly what many unscrupulous farmers do.

Speaking about choosing store-bought milk for cheese, we pay attention to the following nuances:

We give preference to a product enclosed in light-proof packaging - it preserves vitamins longer.
We check the tightness of the packaging. Violation of the integrity of the container is a sign of staleness of the product.
Be sure, we repeat, be sure to look at the date of manufacture and shelf life.
Well, you shouldn’t buy a product if there is no label on it or it is in a foreign language.

– Store-bought milk lasts longer than milk from the market, because all the milk sold in the store undergoes special testing at the factory, heat treatment and is packaged in special packaging.

When milk arrives at the plant, the company’s laboratory checks the raw materials, for example, for the presence of pathogenic microorganisms, somatic cells (this is an indicator of the animal’s disease with mastitis), for residues of veterinary drugs in the milk (antibiotics, etc.). Milk that cannot be processed for food purposes is eliminated . Only absolutely “pure” milk from healthy animals should be sold.

Heat treatment (pasteurization, ultra-pasteurization or sterilization) destroys both harmful and beneficial lactic acid microflora in milk, so milk does not sour and is stored longer.

Thermally treated milk at the factory is packaged in clean new packaging in compliance with all necessary sanitary rules and temperature storage conditions, which also increases the shelf life of the milk.

“Unfortunately, products at the collective farm market are not regularly checked for safety and quality. Therefore, sometimes instead of high-quality milk from a healthy cow, you can buy a product from a sick animal. You can tell that milk came from a sick animal by the content of somatic cells in it - an indicator of the health of the udder.

There is also no certainty that the seller’s container (and the buyer’s too) is absolutely clean, therefore, in this case, it is possible that unwanted microflora may get into the milk, leading to spoilage of the product.

- Most likely, it was ultra-pasteurized milk. Of course, most often it is bottled under aseptic conditions and can be stored at room temperature for up to six months. But if UHT milk is bottled in the usual automatic way, like pasteurized milk, then its shelf life will be the same as that of pasteurized milk - 10-14 days, provided that it is stored in the refrigerator.

– It’s difficult to name the exact cause without laboratory tests. One of the reasons why store-bought milk does not turn into yogurt: it has undergone heat treatment, so it contains virtually no bacteria responsible for ripening. In order for milk to ferment properly, you need to add starter to it.

Despite the fact that heat-treated milk (in an opened package) does not sour at room temperature, it still spoils - a rancid (lipolysis) taste appears. The appearance of a rancid taste depends on various reasons: for example, on the feed and feed additives present in it, on the health of the cow, on the activity of enzymes in the milk, on the chemical composition of the milk. But such milk defects must be identified at the plant during the process of organoleptic and chemical evaluation.

(1) Any “non-dairy” bacteria, such as butyric acid bacteria (clostridia), have entered the milk, so the process of decomposition of proteins and fats does not follow the classical ripening scheme. A dense fermented milk clot does not form, but the milk acquires a bitter taste. Milk is an excellent nutrient medium for the development of any bacteria, including pathogenic ones.

(2) Stabilizing additives are deliberately added to the milk to prevent it from souring. Unfortunately, there are still unscrupulous manufacturers who use unauthorized additives if the milk is not of the best quality, has an increased level of microorganisms in it, and has high acidity.

(3) The milk contains residues of veterinary drugs used to treat the cow. This, of course, is a violation of the law; this should not happen. But sometimes, when tested in the laboratory, these microquantities of drug residues cannot be detected; it “slips” into the milk and gives it a bitter taste.

(4) The milk comes from a cow with mastitis (inflammation of the udder). A conscientious producer will not allow such milk to be sold, and those who are chasing profit, alas, will not do this. “Mastitis” milk contains a lot of excess microflora, which means that microorganisms, when multiplying, secrete enzymes that destroy milk fat and casein, the main protein of milk.

During the decomposition of milk proteins, short peptides (pieces of protein molecules) are formed that have a bitter taste. Therefore, if milk is slightly bitter, this means that uncontrolled hydrolysis of milk proteins has occurred. The process of decomposition of milk fat (lipolysis) can also lead to the formation of various compounds that have a bitter taste and unpleasant odor.

- No. I would not call good milk the one that quickly turns sour, because it contains too many bacteria, at best lactic acid microflora, and at worst harmful.

It’s a different matter when it comes to the classic souring of milk, when fresh milk is poured into clean clay jars. In this case, a clot with a sour cream aroma is formed in the milk, that is, curdled milk is formed with a shiny surface that can be cut with a knife. However, it is possible to say that such milk is absolutely safe only after laboratory tests.

But if milk sours quickly and at the same time it has an unpleasant bitterish, greasy aftertaste, then such a product cannot be called high-quality. Rapid souring of open pasteurized milk can occur either due to an excess of microflora, which is a violation of standards, or the expiration date has expired or is close to expiration, or foreign bacteria have entered the milk.

High-quality homemade (farm) milk from a healthy cow will last in a clean, sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to four days. Not even boiled!

– Powdered milk is milk from which moisture has been removed. The technology of milk drying was invented in order to preserve the product. Powdered milk is produced by concentrating and drying at high pressure and at gentle temperatures, so not only proteins, fats and carbohydrates are preserved, but also many other useful substances.

The only difference between powdered milk and whole milk is the lack of moisture.

If powdered milk is stored in compliance with all requirements, and then properly diluted with water, then the resulting (reconstituted) milk is no worse than whole milk. Moreover, when powdered milk is made from summer milking milk, it is better than whole winter milking milk.

- No, that's not true. Powdered milk meets the same requirements that apply to whole milk and other dairy products. Moreover, there are products that cannot be prepared without milk powder - we are talking about yogurt, which should contain a lot of protein - from 3.2 to 6%. At the factory, when producing yogurt, the protein is increased by adding milk powder.

– Reconstituted is milk prepared from powdered (or concentrated) milk and drinking water in compliance with all technological and sanitary conditions. Reconstituted milk is no different from regular milk. All requirements for such products are the same in both standards and technical regulations (laws).

Solid packaging

An important factor is what kind of packaging the milk has. If the product is sealed in hard packaging, then the shelf life of pasteurized milk is about ten days from the end of the technological process. Inside, the packaging is designed in such a way that it does not allow light to get through to the product and begin its destructive effect. And in the dark and cool, microorganisms multiply less readily. In this case, the milk should not be opened and should be in a cool place.

If you had to keep the milk open, it must be placed in the refrigerator at temperatures ranging from zero degrees to plus five. In this state, milk will be stored well for three days. The hard packaging is equipped with a screw cap that stops the strong flow of oxygen into the product.

Some general tips for use

choose a pasteurized product with a shelf life of several days;
taste it - if you don’t feel the powder, you can take it regularly;
do a little check - if the milk is fermented in a warm place in one or a couple of days, it means that it contains all the necessary lactic acid bacteria and the milk is of good quality;
For better absorption, add spices to warm milk: cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, etc.
take the drink as an independent product, separately from others, especially salty and sour ones;
Do not drink milk cold - it is very difficult to digest due to the cold!

Features of the production of UHT milk are described in the following video:

The modern world does not stand still. If earlier our grandmothers drank only natural milk, bringing it to a boil on their own, now the most advanced heat treatment methods are used so that the milk retains its beneficial nutrients and, at the same time, has a long shelf life.

An ultra-pasteurized product combines these two factors in the best possible way - it contains the entire necessary set of vitamins and minerals, and can also be stored for up to 6 months.

Soft packaging

Soft containers shorten the shelf life of pasteurized milk. The thing is that this packaging does not have a lid that allows you to close the opened box. Air, of course, gets inside the bag, and microorganisms develop much more actively. Therefore, the shelf life of pasteurized milk in a closed soft container will be no more than three days. And opened packaging ceases to protect the product after thirty-six hours. The milk turns sour after this time. However, it can still be consumed as food by using it in baking.

Packaging and sales

Modern packaging allows you to further increase the shelf life of milk. For example, UHT milk in aseptic Tetra Pak packaging is stored for 6 months at a temperature of 1 to 25°C.

The finished milk undergoes strict microbiological control at the enterprise, after which it is sent to store shelves.

As you can see, no harmful substances are added to milk during its production, and the inscriptions on the boxes indicate by what method the product was brought to the required fat content and by what method pathogenic microflora dangerous to human health was destroyed in it. Another thing is that the amount of vitamins is reduced during production processing and long-term storage, but that’s a completely different story.

Have delicious normalized and pasteurized milk, friends =)

On the shelves of modern stores there is a huge selection of dairy products from different manufacturers. They are all trying to sell us their product through attractive packaging, marketing gimmicks and other means. The most important thing that a person buying food needs to know is its freshness, taste and benefits for the body, so when choosing milk you need to know at least in general terms about the methods of its heat treatment.