New process makes milk last for six weeks
A rapid heating and cooling of milk significantly reduces the amount of harmful bacteria present, extending its shelf life by several weeks.
Bruce Applegate, Purdue associate professor in the Department of Food Science, published the findings in the journal SpringerPlus.
The research shows that increasing the temperature of milk by 10 degrees Celsius for less than a second eliminates more than 99 percent of the bacteria left behind after pasteurization.
“Whatever does survive is at such a low level that it takes much longer for it to multiply to a point at which it damages the quality of the milk,” he said.
“It’s an add-on to pasteurization, but it can add shelf life of up to five, six, or seven weeks to cold milk,” said Applegate.
Applegate said the process could be tested without pasteurization to determine if it could stand alone as a treatment for eliminating harmful bacteria from milk.
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