Preservation, contamination and

spoilage of milk and milk

products
Manish Thapaliya
 Milk
 normal mammary secretion of milking animals
obtained from one or more milkings without
either addition to it or extraction from it,
intended for consumption as liquid milk or for
further processing. (CODEX STAN 206-1999)
 Contd…
 Milk product is a product obtained by any
processing of milk, which may contain food
additives, and other ingredients functionally
necessary for the processing. (CODEX STAN
206-1999)
 Contd…
 Simply- fluid excluding colostrums, secreted by
mammals
 Number of animals produce milk, but cow is by far
the most important
 Principal components : water, fat, protein, and
lactose
 Precise composition varies according to species,
breeds, among a single species, stage of lactation,
stage of milking, intervals between milking, time of
day, etc
 Contamination
 Can get subjected to contamination form
various sources
 On farm level: animal itself (especially the
exterior of the udder), manure, soil, water,
dairy utensils, milk contact surfaces ( milk pail
or milking machine, milk cans, pipelines, milk
cooler etc)
 Contd…
 Transit level: tankers, transfer pipes, sampling
utensils, different handling equipments
 Manufacturing level : pipelines, vats, tanks,
pumps, valves, separators, clarifiers, employee,
packaging materials
 Organisms: Lactic streptococci, coliform,
psychrotrophs (gram –ve rods), thermodurics
(micrococci, enterococci, bacilli etc )
 Preservation
Use of heat:
 Pasteurization : fulfills two major objectives :

a) to kill pathogens and b) to improve the

keeping quality
 Types:

a. LTLT: 62.8°C/30 mins

b. HTST: 71.7°C/15 secs
c. UHT: 137.8°C/2 secs
 sterilization : >100°C / 20-40 mins
 Contd…
Use of low temperature :
 Done for most of the milk except canned milk

and dry milk

 Refrigerated storage: during storage on farm,

in the truck or tanker during transportation and

storage in vats
 Should be cooled to 10°C or less within 2

hours after being drawn until pasteurized

 Contd…
 Freezing: stored in the frozen state, where
microbial multiplication is impossible
 Pasteurized whole milk : -28 to -29°C
 Butter, cream : -17 to -18°C
 Concentrated milk : -23 to -24°C/ several
weeks
 Contd…
Drying :
 Removal of different percentage of water form

whole or skim milk

 Reduction of water and increase in the

concentration of dissolved substances – inhibit

the growth of organisms
 Types :
 Condensed products
 Dry products
 Contd…
Use of preservatives :
 Addition permitted only to a limited extent
 Sorbic acid/propionic acid : cottage cheese,

yoghurt
 Sugar : sweetened condensed milk
 Salt : various kinds of cheese, butter
 H O : certain kind of cheese (Swiss and
2 2
Cheddar cheese)
 Spoilage
 Defects in milk due to microbial growths :
 Off-flavor
 Lipolysis with development of rancidity
 Gas production
 Fermentation to lactic acid with souring
 Coagulation of milk proteins
 Viscous or ropy texture
 Discoloration
 proteolysis
 Contd…
 Cold stored milk : Pseudomonas spp,
Acinetobacter spp, Alcaligenes spp, Aerobacter
spp and Flavobacterium spp
 Pseudomonas spp : bitter flavor and rancidity
as well as the fruity odor (ethyl butyrate and
ethyl hexonate)
 LABs : souring of milk
 S. lactis var. maltigenes : malty flavor (3-
methylbutanol- break down of leucine)
 Contd…
 Ropiness : Alcaligenes viscolactis,
Enterobacter aerogenes, E. cloacae, Klebsiella
oxytoca, E.coli, LABs
 Color changes : Blue milk : P. syncyanea ;
Yellow milk : P. synxantha ; Brown milk : P.
putrefaciens ; Red milk : S. marcescens,
Micrococcus roseus
 Contd…
Butter :
 Main defect : rancidity (auto-oxidation or

lipolysis by mos’)
 Psychrotrophs – putrefaction, proteolysis and

fruity flavor
 Other defects : surface taints and yeasty butter
 Contd…
Cheese :
 Cottage cheese: lipolysis and proteolysis, and

flavor defects accompanied by a gelatinous or

tapioca curd formation
 P. fragi and A. putrefaciens : slimy curd,

accompanied by fruity, putrid or rancid odor

and a fruity or bitter flavor
 Flavobacterium : surface discoloration
 Contd…
 E.coli : barny or unclean flavor
 Rhodotorula : pink spot eventually changes to
pink slime
 Torulopsis : yellow slime
 Geotrichum : off-white tan or yellow surface
discoloration
 Molds : surface growth
Preservation, contamination and
spoilage of eggs
 EGG
 Whole egg : the homogeneous product
obtained from the complete contents of broken
out hens eggs-in-shell, in accordance with
good manufacturing practice. (UNECE
STANDARD)
 Contd…
 Are economical, quick and convenient and
easy to prepare and easily digestible
 Egg contains albumen and yolk
 Weight : large egg – 2 oz or 58 gms of which
approx. 11% -shell, 58%-white and 31%- yolk
 Contents : 6-7 gms proteins ; 5-6gms fat ; less
than 0.4gm CHO
 Contd…
 Vitamins : A, D, E and K (fat-soluble)and B
vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, pantothenic
acid, niacin, folic acid and B12)
 Contamination
 Are unique food stuff, packaged in a fragile,
non-sterile permeable shell through which
gases, moisture and bacteria can pass
 Permeability of shell increase under poor
storage condition and as egg becomes older
 Are good source of nutrient for mos’ despite
the presence of some inhibitory substances in
the albumen
 Contd…
 Although content of most eggs are sterile when
laid, bacteria especially Salmonella spp can be
transferred inside the egg when hens are
infected

 Common mos’: coliform, Achromobacter,

Pseudomonas, Serratia, Proteus, Alcaligenes
and Citrobacter
 Contd…
 Source of contamination : wire cages, floors,
nesting materials, dirt and fecal materials, feed,
water and other diseased birds
 Preservation
Use of heat :
 Depends upon heat coagulability of egg white
 Thermostabilization method : holding egg in

an oil or hot water (60°C/10mins in oil or

54.4°C/30mins in water)
 Pasteurization : most egg products except

salted yolk
 Contd…
 Before pasteurization stabilization is done by
adding aluminium salts and adjustment of pH
 Heat treatments employed to eliminate

Salmonella :
 Whole liquid egg : 60°C/3.5 mins
 Plain yolk liquid : 61.6°C/3.5 mins
 Yolk with salt : 63.3°C/3.5 mins
 Yolk with CHO : 62.2°C/6.2 mins
 Contd…
Use of low temperature :
 Chilling storage : depends upon the

temperature and Rh
 Commercial storage for 6 months or longer is

done at -1.7 to -0.55°C and Rh of 70-80%

 Freezing storage : done for egg “meats” or

“pulp”
 Temperature : -17.8 to -20.5°C
 Contd…
Drying :
 done in preparation of whole pulp, white, or

dry yolk
 Done using : a) spray dryer and b) roller or

drum dryer
 Additional treatment : removal of glucose –

(maillard or browning reaction and

fermentation by no. of organisms )
 Contd…
Use of preservatives :
 May be used on the shell, in atmosphere

around them or on wraps or containers for eggs

 Waxing, oiling the shell
 Use of germicidal solution as hypochlorite, lye,

acids, formalin, quaternary ammonium

compounds, detergent-sanitizer combination
 Spoilage
 May be both microbial or non-microbial
 More caused by bacteria than mold
 Bacterial spoilage aka “rots”
 According to Alford et.al. (1950) – 5 groups of

rots
 Green rot : Pseudomonas fluorescens
 Colorless rot : Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter,
Alcaligenes and certain coliform
 Contd…
 Rots contd…
 Black rot : Proteus spp, especially P.
melanovogenes – black coloration of yolk and
sometimes Pseudomonas and Aeromonas
 Pink rot : Pseudomonas spp
 Red rot : serratia spp
 Molds : early growth – pin point molding ;

superficial fungal spoilage and fungal rotting

 Contd…
 Off-flavor, mustiness : Achromobacter
perolens , Pseudomonas graveolens , P.
mucidolens
 Straw or musty or earthy flavor : Streptomyces
 Hay odor : Enterobacter cloacae
 Fishy odor : E.coli
 Mold spoilers : Penicillium, Cladosporium,
Mucor, Sporotrichum, Botrytis, Alternaria and
Thamnidium