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Scientists Find Chemical-Free Way To Extend Milk's Shelf Life For Up To 3 Weeks (digitaltrends.com)
An anonymous reader writes from a report via Digital Trends: Researchers at Purdue University and the University of Tennessee have found a non-chemical way to extend regular milk's shelf life to around 2-3 weeks, and without affecting the nutrients or flavor. The technology they've developed involves increasing the temperature of milk by just 10 degrees for less than a second, which is well below the 70-degree Celsius threshold needed for pasteurization. That quick heat blast is still able to eliminate more than 99 percent of the bacteria left from pasteurization. "The developed technology uses low temperature, short time (LTST) in a process that disperses milk in the form of droplets with low heat/pressure variation over a short treatment time in conjunction with pasteurization," Bruce Applegate, Purdue's associate professor in the Department of Food Science, explained to Digital Trends. "The resultant product was subjected to a taste panel and participants had equal or greater preference for the LTST pasteurized milk compared to normally pasteurized milk. The shelf was determined to be a minimum of two weeks longer than the standard shelf life from pasteurization alone." As for whether or not this method will make its way to store shelves, it won't in the near future. "Currently an Ohio-based milk processor is using this technology and distributing the milk," Applegate says. "The unit is approved for processing milk in Ohio and distribution nationwide. The product is currently being distributed, however it has not been labeled as extended shelf life milk. Once the commercial application is validated the milk will be labelled with the extended shelf life." Scientists from Duke University believe there may be a large source of hydrogen gas under the ocean, caused by rocks forming from fast-spreading tectonic plates.
What does hydrogen found under tectonic plates have to do with milk pasteurization? Is this some kind of reading proficiency test?
Jeez .. are you just adding links to the end to stories just for the hell of it? WTF does the hydrogen one have to do with milk in the first place?
It's doing shit like this that pisses off regulars and drives people away. Just check out how people felt about the last lot of overlords.
The only conclusion I can come to is that you are Timmmmah in disguise (albeit a bad one). So quit making a fool of your self and just leave well enough alone.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
The technology they've developed involves increasing the temperature of milk by just 10 degrees for less than a second, which is well below the 70-degree Celsius threshold needed for pasteurization.
What temperature do they increase the milk from? You can't say an increase of 10 degrees is "well below" an absolute measurement of 70 degrees.
Scientists from Duke University believe there may be a large source of hydrogen gas under the ocean, caused by rocks forming from fast-spreading tectonic plates.
...what?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
In fact we've even evolved to keep the lactase enzyme into adulthood in the majority of the worlds population just because of drinking milk. So get over it cupcake and take your hand wringing animal rights agenda elsewhere.
Scientists from Duke University believe there may be a large source of hydrogen gas under the ocean, caused by rocks forming from fast-spreading tectonic plates
Not only am I getting really sick of seeing link backs to stories which are often literally less than a day old, but in this case it is completely irrelevant.
Links back to relevant stories are not bad, but they only make sense when they are related, of really really important significance, or old enough that they aren't in the immediate memory of the readership.
This is journalism 101 type stuff.
Irradiation degrades the flavor of milk more than heat pasteurization does. Milk, as it turns out, is very sensitive to radiation and develops an off flavor very quickly with exposure.
In the US, at least, the FDA has also not approved irradiation as a treatment for milk. Because of the issues with flavor, it's also very doubtful that manufacturers will go to the expense of lobbying for approval.
Wow... so much incorrect information in such a small space.
First, CJD is caused by prions which can come from several sources including your own body if you're unlucky enough to have the wrong genetic mutation.
Second, the prion that causes Bovine spongiform encephalopathy cannot be destroyed by any level of pasteurization that would leave cattle feed in an edible state. It remains viable at temperatures below 600 degrees C. Trying to pasteurize cattle feed at that temperature would incinerate it and leave you with prion-laden ashes. Changes to regulations on the pasteurization of cattle feed would have no effect whatsoever on this.
Third, the outbreaks of BSE were caused by cattle feed containing the remains of sick cattle and sheep. At the time, it was seen as a way to minimize lost profits while disposing of sick animals, so it rapidly became a wide-spread practice which resulted in the huge outbreaks of the dease.
The technology they've developed involves increasing the temperature of milk by just 10 degrees for less than a second, which is well below the 70-degree Celsius threshold needed for pasteurization. That quick heat blast is still able to eliminate more than 99 percent of the bacteria left from pasteurization.
So which is it? Do they first pasteurize the milk, then "blast" it with the 10 degrees? Or is the 10 degree thing the only treatment?
without affecting the nutrients or flavor.
As any hobby cheese maker will be able to tell you, pasteurizing diminishes calcium content by around half. If you google for cheese making instructions, almost all will tell you to preferably use unpasteurized milk, and if you have to use pasteurized, you need to add calcium. Calcium is one of the things needed for the fermentation processes. (UHT milk is strictly discouraged as about all calcium is destroyed, and the stuff one can add back is not of the same quality - cheeses with UHT milk usually flop).
Obviously, a lot of other nutrients (minerals, vitamins, probiotics) are diminished. I'm not sure about the chemistry, but I assume it would not be elemental minerals, but some organic compounds being broken down so as not to be utilizable by biological processes (fermentation, digestion) any longer.
Thankfully, in my country one can sell raw (unpasteurized) milk legally, provided samples are tested every few months for some pathogens - this is called "certified raw milk". My provider voluntarily does the tests once a month. I obviously use some of the milk fresh, which seems to last longer in my fridge than the commercial pasteurized milk. Most of it is used for feta-style cheese, one of the easiest cheeses (I know, I know, cows milk does not make "real" feta). I do not need to add any cultures, it uses its natural-occurring cultures for the fermentation step, I only need to add some coagulation enzymes. The cheese also differs light-years in taste from the chalky store-bought stuff made from cow's milk.
And let's not get me started on taste. Just not comparable to the white stuff from the supermarket. The milk also comes unhomogenized, and somehow that cream just does it for one's tastebuds.
Anyhow, as you may deduce, I'm a fan of making milk last for weeks in the traditional (and nutrient-enhancing) way: fermentation. Jogurt and kefir do last about double as long as the fresh milk, and can still be used instead of fresh milk in a lot of applications; cheeses obviously last for some months at least and be default only get better with age. Cream and butter also last a bit longer, and freeze well. Then there is the trip to the supplier every week or two to restock - for the few single days in between where your fresh milk is used up, there REALLY are other diet options, you don't need fresh milk every day.
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
Nah, in the EU we heat our cows to 70C routinely.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Nah, try dogs milk.
Nothing wrong with dog's milk. Full of goodness, full of vitamins, full of marrowbone jelly. Lasts longer than any other milk, dog's milk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Or, how about we just sell milk in bag-in-boxes like they do in other countries. They can sit on the shelf for up to 6 months as long as they're not opened. Grocery stores could still refrigerate them so they're cold and ready to go when people get home.
Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
Do you not know how bioavailability works?
While I'm no expert I have a crude idea. Do you? You seem to be conflating bio-availability some other concepts. It's a lot more complex than raw food = good bacteria = healthy person.
Many of those bacteria help us digest stuff we lost the ability to digest after infancy.
You are grossly oversimplifying the process. Bacteria help us digest stuff throughout our life. Remove them and we can barely survive at any age. We aren't born with all the bacteria we need to digest stuff and our gut flora change as we age. Some comes from mom, some comes from the geography and environment around us, some comes from our diet. Antibiotics have a strong effect on our gut flora.
The debate about the health benefits of raw vs pasteurized milk has not yet yielded much in the way of firm conclusions. A few things seem clear. Pasteurizing does unquestionably kill harmful (and helpful) microbes and on balance it seems clear that it has a net benefit in reducing illness and mortality from pathogens. Most studies conducted so far that have found benefits to raw milk have not controlled for the fact that the individuals studied lived on a farm (hard to get raw milk elsewhere) and there are many variables relating to that so it is hard to draw any strong conclusions. There may be benefits but we haven't clearly teased them out yet. The available evidence and studies so far seems to show that any negative impact on nutrition from pasteurization is small to negligible though future studies may revise that conclusion as more data is gathered.