Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23C—DAIRY PRODUCTS, e.g. MILK, BUTTER OR CHEESE; MILK OR CHEESE SUBSTITUTES; PREPARATION THEREOF
  • A23C9/00—Milk preparations; Milk powder or milk powder preparations
  • A23C9/15—Reconstituted or recombined milk products containing neither non-milk fat nor non-milk proteins
  • A23C9/1508—Dissolving or reconstituting milk powder; Reconstitution of milk concentrate with water; Standardisation of fat content of milk
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23B—PRESERVATION OF FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES; CHEMICAL RIPENING OF FRUIT OR VEGETABLES
  • A23B11/00—Preservation of milk or dairy products
  • A23B11/10—Preservation of milk or milk preparations
  • A23B11/12—Preservation of milk or milk preparations by heating
  • A23B11/13—Preservation of milk or milk preparations by heating the materials being loose unpacked
  • A23B11/133—Preservation of milk or milk preparations by heating the materials being loose unpacked and progressively transported through the apparatus
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23B—PRESERVATION OF FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES; CHEMICAL RIPENING OF FRUIT OR VEGETABLES
  • A23B11/00—Preservation of milk or dairy products
  • A23B11/10—Preservation of milk or milk preparations
  • A23B11/12—Preservation of milk or milk preparations by heating
  • A23B11/13—Preservation of milk or milk preparations by heating the materials being loose unpacked
  • A23B11/133—Preservation of milk or milk preparations by heating the materials being loose unpacked and progressively transported through the apparatus
  • A23B11/137—Preservation of milk or milk preparations by heating the materials being loose unpacked and progressively transported through the apparatus in direct contact with the heating medium, e.g. steam

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method for producing UHT milk which includes pretreatment of the milk by separation and standardisation, and also homogenisation and heat treatment.
• UHT milk Ultra High Temperature
• a commercially sterile product may be defined as a product which is free of micro-organisms which may grow and multiply under prevailing conditions.
• One object of the present invention is to treat the milk as gently as possible in its pretreatment in order not to subject the milk to heat treatment or mechanical action unnecessarily.
• a further object of the present invention is that the heating process take place at an elevated temperature for a short time, with retained destructive effect, which also contributes to a gentler treatment of the milk, with consequentially improved flavour qualities.
• Yet a further object of the present invention is that the method include an enzyme deactivation in one or more stages in order to obtain a stable, aseptic product.
• Fig. 1 is a flow diagram of an installation for reducing the method into practice.
• the raw milk arrives at the dairy, it is normally at a temperature of 4°C.
• the incoming milk may possibly be stored in buffer tanks, this storage taking place at maintained temperature.
• the separator 2 may be conventional type, but, if it is not the intention to heat the milk before separation, a so-called cold separator 2 may likewise be employed.
• the milk is separated according to the invention at a temperature of 4-15°C, for which reason a certain insignificant heating may take place before the milk arrives at the separator 2.
• a cold separator 2 differs in principle from a standard separator in that the distance between the panels is slightly greater, since cold cream is of a higher viscosity than the warmed cream.
• conventional separation at approx. 55°C may be employed.
• Both the cream and the skimmed milk are at a continued low temperature of 4- 15°C, alternatively 55°C if conventional separation is employed.
• the cream is led in its conduit 3 to a standardisation unit 5 in which it is possible to obtain an exact proportion of cream for re-admixing to the skimmed milk, which gives a milk product with the desired fat content.
• the excess cream is led in a conduit 6 out from the standardisation unit 5 for separate treatment.
• the UHT unit 7 normally also incudes a homogeniser which is preferably placed after the heating of the milk, but which may also be placed ahead of the heating.
• the homogenisation is carried out in order to obtain a milk product where the fat globules are corrtminuted to small fat globules of equal size. If the milk is not homogenised, a cream precipitation will occur, i.e. the fat globules (which are lighter) accumulate in the upper region of the finished package. Almost all consumer milk is homogenised today.
• the UHT treatment proper takes place according to the present invention in that the milk is heated to a temperature above 135°C for a brief period of time.
• the heating takes place to 135-175°C for the requisite time, depending upon the requirements on destruction or on the food regulations in each respective country.
• the destruction requirement is dependent upon the bacteria and spore content of the incoming milk.
• the heating of the milk may either take place directly by steam injection or steam infusion or indirectly by the milk being heated in some form of heat exchanger, or a combination of these methods.
• a certain instability in respect of enzyme activity may occur.
• This instability as a result of enzyme activity also affects the flavour of the UHT product and the objective is to obtain a stable, aseptic product.
• such instability may be remedied in that the milk, after the UHT treatment, is cooled in one or more stages at temperatures of between 55 and 70°C, in a time interval of between 2 and 10 minutes, for example 63-65°C for 4-8 minutes, whereafter the product is cooled to packaging temperature.
• the enzyme deactivation requires holder cells of tubular type or the like, which may be integrated into the UHT unit 7.
• the enzyme deactivation may be carried out prior to the heat treatment.
• Deactivation prior to heat treatment takes place in a corresponding manner, in one or more stages at temperatures of between 55 and 70°C, in a time interval of between 2 and 10 minutes, for example 63- 65°C for 4-8 minutes.
• the enzyme deactivation takes place holder cells of tubular type or the like.
• a certain advantage by placing the deactivation ahead of the heat treatment is that this method step need not be carried out under aseptic conditions.
• the ready-treated milk is conveyed in a conduit 8 further to one or more filling machines 9.
• the filling machines 9 are aseptic and may, for example, be of the type which packs the milk into parallelepipedic packaging containers of single-use disposable type.

Landscapes

• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
• Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
• Zoology (AREA)
• Dairy Products (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Families Citing this family (11)

Family Cites Families (3)

• 1997
  • 1997-03-14 SE SE9700928A patent/SE508869C2/sv not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1998
  • 1998-03-09 CN CN98805117A patent/CN1255832A/zh active Pending
  • 1998-03-09 EP EP98909915A patent/EP0984702A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1998-03-09 AU AU64281/98A patent/AU6428198A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1998-03-09 WO PCT/SE1998/000413 patent/WO1998041102A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 1998-03-09 EA EA199900831A patent/EA001568B1/ru not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1998-03-09 BR BR9808264-7A patent/BR9808264A/pt not_active Application Discontinuation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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