Today technologies allow regulating the fat content of milk at the stage of its processing and influencing the shelf life. Consumers can only choose a product based on their preferences and comply with the conditions of its storage.
One of the most important indicators of milk quality is its fat content. Milk fat has a positive effect on the human body, enriching it with useful arachidonic acid and a protein-lecithin complex. Naturally, high-fat milk will contain much more vitamins and nutrients than skim milk.
Types of milk depending on fat content
Previously, the fat content of milk could only be influenced by adjusting the cow's diet. Today this is done at the stage of product processing by mixing in different proportions its fat and fat-free fraction. This allows not only to vary the fat content of milk, but also to improve its quality, because the fat after homogenization dissolves in the entire volume of milk, and does not accumulate on its surface.
Depending on the fat content, milk is classified into four types. So, the product, which contains from 4 to 6% cream, refers to milk of high fat content. Normalized milk contains 3.2% fat, and low fat milk contains 0.5 to 2.5%. The skimmed product either contains very little or no cream.
Milk storage
The shelf life of homemade milk directly depends on the fat content. The more cream the product contains, the shorter the storage time it can be. This is due to the fact that lactic acid bacteria develop faster in a fatty product. It is better not to keep such a product without a refrigerator for more than 6 hours, and in the cold, homemade milk can be stored for no more than 2-3 days.
To extend the shelf life of homemade milk, it can be heated to 98 ° C, then quickly cooled, poured into a clean glass container and put into the refrigerator. This product can be drunk for 5 days.
The shelf life of store-bought milk depends to a large extent on the method of processing and packaging. So, pasteurized milk, which is not brought to a boil, can be stored for 4 days in foil packaging, 7 days in cartons and up to two weeks in Tetra Pak packaging. UHT milk, heated to 135 ° C and then rapidly chilled, is packaged in Tetra Pak and stored for 6 to 8 weeks. And sterilized milk, subject to continuous heating up to 150 ° C, is stored for a long time - about 6 months.
Pasteurized milk is considered the most useful, because it contains most of the vitamins and nutrients. But in sterilized they are practically absent.
The shelf life of milk is largely influenced by the conditions of its storage both before opening the package and after. As well as the integrity of the product packaging itself. It is better not to drink milk with an unpleasant odor or bitter-sour taste, even if the expiration date has not yet expired.
