Milk Processing 1

Milk production assembly and analysis

Irl: Milk produced on 18,000 dairy farms

average herd size ~ 80 cows

Average yield ~ 6,000L/yr (1,300gal)

Need to assemble milk to process

Alternate-day collection  on-farm storage

 Farm
Sample for
tracing and Bulk Tanker
quality analysis

Arrival at factory
Test load for Cooling /
acidity and thermisation
antibiotics
Bulk storage in silos

Directed to various processes

 Microbial Quality and safety of Milk

Milk is nutritious medium – risk of spoilage

/health

1.Minimise contamination:
– good hygiene for equipment, cows, operator -
good building design.

2.Minmise growth:
on-farm storage of milk at refrigeration temp
(<4ºC) in stainless steel tanks.
 Micro organisms associated with milk
Spoilage m/os:
Historically mesophillic “lactic acid producing” bacteria –
turned milk sour.
Refrigerated storage –psychrotrophic m/os – can grow at
Temp ≤ 7°C – don’t produce acid but produce enzymes that
can cause spoilage
Thermoduric m/os – survive pasteurisation.

Pathogens:
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Brucella abortus, Salmonella
sps, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphlococcus aureus, E. coli
(incl. 0157) Coxiella burnetti
– in general low level of contamination
all are killed by pasteurisation
raw milk always a risk – don’t consume it !!
 Milk processing
A: Preserve/ make safe ; B: Add Value
Preservation/safety:
Shelf life of raw milk 24h with refrigeration 3-4d.
– need to process for any longer.
1. Simplest process is to apply heat treatment
to kill spoilage and pathogenic micro organisms.
Extend shelf life and make safe.
e.g. pasteurisation -sterilisation
 Processing 2
2. Reduce moisture content - m/os need H2O
for growth
e.g Milk 87%H2O milk powder ~4%
Shelf life: 9days >12 mths

3. Fermentation - inocculate food with benign

bacteria – produce acid out-compete spoilage and
pathogenic m/os.
e.g. Milk pH = 6.7; cheese =5.2; Yoghurt =4.4.

Adding value: Concentration/isolation of

components – sell as ingredients
 Pasteurisation
Pasteurisation process applied to all liquid milk and
almost all dairy products.

Objective is to make milk safe - conditions

designed to inactivate Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Two main types:

low temp. – long time (LTLT) 63°C x30min

High temp- short time (HTST) 72°C x15s

 HTST pasteuriser
Temp. sensor
/recorder

Flow diverter Pasteurised

Raw
Milk
Milk Holding
Heat exchanger tube
Pump

Hot water Packaging

Out In
 Salted butter v. stable - up to 2 yr at -30ºC

Effective NaCl conc. ~12.5% also moisture in tiny

droplets.

YIELD: 100L milk  4.5kg butter; >2gal/lb

100L milk  ~10L cream

90L Skimmed milk – major by-product

Simplest strategy is to dry

Why milk powders are major dairy product.