UHT milk: description, benefit and harm, shelf life

Milk is in demand all over the world.However, like most perishable foods, it is almost never sold fresh. Before entering the store, the milk undergoes mandatory preliminary processing at the factory. But if everyone has long become accustomed to the pasteurized version, the inscription on the “ultra-pasteurized” package drives some consumers into thinking. Since this point may affect the usefulness of the product, it is worth understanding the terminology more thoroughly.

Ultra-pasteurized milk, which is also known to many as sterilized, is drinking milk that has been heat treated to eliminate any living microorganisms. This product is suitable not only for use in its pure form. With its addition, you can also cook any dishes, pastries. It is even allowed to give them babies.

Ultrapasteurization lies in the fact that whole milk with the help of a special apparatus as quickly as possible is heated to a temperature of about 140 degrees, which it must withstand for about 15-20 seconds. After that, the product with the same maximum speed is cooled to a temperature at which it could be stored in the refrigerator. Such operations mean that all the living components of milk, which were quite a lot in the original, perish. It only remains the taste and healthy trace elements, which, of course, do not disappear anywhere.

However, some microorganisms that died as a result of heating could benefit a person, but their death is justified in its own way, because such milk can be stored in a sealed form for up to six months.

Perhaps any other type of milk or dairy products is a little more useful than the UHT version. Nevertheless, the absence of lactic acid bacteria, which play an important role in the development of digestion, and some other components. Nevertheless, it is not worthwhile to underestimate the usefulness of such milk, because the majority of useful trace elements from heating to 140 degrees are not split.

As a rule, in an ultrapasteurized variety, the percentage of fat content is somewhat less than that of fresh milk, therefore this option is preferred for infants. Finally, significant heating is a worthy substitute for adding preservatives. Therefore, choosing UHT milk, at least you clearly understand why it does not deteriorate, and you can be sure that there are no extra additives in it.

As for harm, the use of UHT milk practically can not cause it. Such a product does not belong to the perishable, so even the probability of poisoning with a spoiled drink is minimized. Therefore, it can be said that the only danger left is the individual lactose intolerance caused by the lack of enzymes in the adult organism for the digestion of this substance. There are entire nations (for example, the Chinese or many peoples of the North) who have such a mass problem, but among our fellow citizens the percentage of people with lactose intolerance is relatively small.

For many consumers, "ultra-pasteurized" is just a beautiful version of the name of pasteurized milk, which should attract a buyer. In fact, the difference is obvious. First of all, it is in the production process. Every housewife probably knows that before use, the village milk should be heated (brought to a state close to boiling, but still not boiled).This solution allows you to destroy most of the harmful microorganisms, retaining all or almost all the benefits of the drink. Actually, this is pasteurization, only at home.

At the factory, pasteurized milk is produced at a temperature of from 60 to 98 degrees. The higher the temperature, the shorter the period of heating is (on average, from 14 minutes to an hour). As mentioned above, the ultrapasterization process is very similar in its principle, and even the inverse pattern persists, only the numbers differ greatly in the direction of increasing temperature and shortening the processing time.

As a result, the difference affects the composition, the benefits and the shelf life of the product. Pasteurized milk is healthier; however, it, like all other products of natural origin with minimal processing, is stored at best for several days. Ultrapasteurization allows you to extend the life of the package with milk up to six months, delivering it even to the most remote regions. However, the benefits of the result are somewhat lower, because during processing, beneficial microorganisms also die.

GOST does not set out clearly described requirements for UHT milk, therefore it may be slightly different for each manufacturer. It is known that such a product can be stored for several months, but even the first place in the ranking of the duration of storage among dairy products does not mean that the product is conservation in the full sense. Like a regular pack of pasteurized milk, the UHT is stored strictly in the refrigerator. However, even such storage conditions suggest a significant acceleration of the ripening process in the case of opening the package, although due to the higher processing temperature, milk from an open bag can be drunk for about four days. Of course, these figures are approximate, because it is necessary to focus mainly on the shelf life indicated on the packaging of a particular product.

Separately, it is worth noting that it is meaningless to boil ultrapasteurized milk before drinking. It has already been heated industrially to a temperature above the boiling point, and repeated processing can simply “finish off” the remaining beneficial substances.

Learn more about UHT milk from the following video.