Controlling quality in

UHT and ESL milk

for export

Hilton Deeth

NCDEA Webinar 11 November 2015

 Outline
UHT and ESL milk: a brief overview
Key issues for exported UHT and ESL milks
UHT milk - quality issues, causes & remedies
 Flavour
 Age gelation
 Fat separation
 Sedimentation
 Non-sterility
 Package damage*
ESL milk - quality issues, causes & remedies
 Shelf-life limitation due to bacterial growth
 Psychrotrophic spore-formers
 Flavour issues
 UHT processing
• 138-145ºC for 2-10 seconds
• Destroys:
• all non-spore-forming bacteria
• almost all spore-forming bacteria
• Main bacteria of concern are very heat-resistant Bacillus
species
• Packed aseptically
• Stored at room temperature
• Has shelf life of ≥ 6 months
• Used for white milk, flavoured and modified milk, cream,
custard and non-dairy beverages
 ESL processing
• Heated at 20-138ºC for < 5 seconds; in USA, “ultrapasteurisation “is
138ºC for ≥ 2 seconds (also by microfiltration plus pasteurisation)
• Destroys:
• all non-spore-forming bacteria, including pathogenic bacteria
• most spore-formers
• Packaged under :
• Very clean conditions OR
• Aseptically
• Main bacterial issues:
• post-heat treatment contamination (if not packaged aseptically)
• psychrotrophic spore-forming bacteria, e.g., Bacillus cereus, B.
circulans
• ESL milk is stored refrigerated
• Has a shelf life of 30+ days – depends on heat treatment and packaging
• Used for white milk, flavoured and modified milk, custard
 UHT versus ESL
UHT milk ESL milk
Commercially sterile Not commercially sterile:
contains some spore-formers
which could grow at room
temperature
Always packaged aseptically Packaged under either very clean
or aseptic conditions

Stored at room temperature Stored refrigerated

Has long shelf-life (≥ 6months) Shelf-life 30-45 days, more if
aseptically packaged

Has definite cooked/heated Has little if any cooked flavour

flavour
Key issues for exported milks
Quality of raw material - milk
Processing conditions - temperaturetime profile
Temperature and duration of transport and
storage – including variability
Temperature can vary from < 0°C to > 50°C as
product is transported across climatic zones –
and stored in uninsulated warehouses where
temperature can reach > 50°C
Package integrity
 UHT milk
Quality issues, causes &
remedies
Flavour
 UHT milk flavour profile during
storage
Optimal flavour period

Sulfur

Heated

Stale

Rancid/
bitter

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Storage time (weeks)

Flavour issues in stored UHT milk
• Cooked – due to heat treatment
• Stale, oxidised - mainly due to aldehydes
(C7, C9)
• Maillard reaction products
• Bitter - due to bitter peptides caused by
residual proteases – bacteria or plasmin
• Rancid, soapy - due to free fatty acids caused
by residual bacterial lipases
• Acid, sour – due to bacterial fermentation
 Flavour issues and remedies
Cooked flavour
• Minimise severity of UHT process (i.e. minimise C*)

Stale/oxidised flavour
• minimise air/O2 content: Direct processing (1-2 mg/L)
better than indirect (7-9 mg/L)
• minimise headspace in package: Tetrabrik (~ 8 mL/L)
better than Combibloc (~ 34 mL/L) better than HDPE
bottles (~58 mL/L)
Flavour issues and remedies (cont)
Bitter and rancid flavours
• Minimise bacterial count in raw milk; this mimimises
residual bacterial enzyme content – preferably <
100,000/mL
• Minimise somatic cell count, preferably to <
200,000/mL; this minimises plasmin content
• Use pre-heat conditions to minimise residual plasmin
Sour/ acid flavour
• Can be due to bacterial growth, with or without gas
production (flat sour effect)
• Flat sour can be due to growth of thermophilic spore-
formers when product temperature is > ~50°C
Age gelation
 Age gelation
• A major issue which limits shelf-life of UHT
milk
• Gradual increase in viscosity, then quite rapid
increase in viscosity, then formation of custard-
like gel – sometimes lumps, sometimes flakes,
sometimes thick layer on bottom, sometimes
layer at top
• Gel formation is irreversible
• Occurs more rapidly in concentrated milks
Factors affecting age gelation

• storage temperature
• protease activity
• severity of heat treatment
• quality of the raw milk
• season/stage of lactation
• additives
 Effect of storage temperature
on age gelation

• Storage at low (~4ºC) and high (~35-40ºC)

temperatures delays onset of gelation.
• Storage at ~25-30ºC is optimum for gel
formation – unfortunately
 Protease activity
• Good correlation between proteolysis and age
gelation Usually!
• Can be due to (heat-stable) bacterial
proteases &/or the native milk plasmin
 Bacterial proteases
Bacterial proteases :
• considered the major cause of gelation in
unconcentrated milk
• produced in raw milk by psychrotrophic bacteria
• survive UHT heat treatment
• mostly attack -casein (similar to rennet)
 Plasmin
Plasmin :
• is stable to some UHT heat treatments
• can be inactivated by preheatng at ~90°C for
30-60 s – MOST SIGNIFICANT
• is higher in early and late lactation milk
• is higher in mastitic milk
• increases during storage due to conversion of
plasminogen to plasmin
• attacks mostly -casein to give -casein
 Protease levels in milk
• age gelation can be caused by very low
levels of protease in UHT milk – as little as
1 ng/mL
• very low levels of protease activity are
difficult to measure - most assays are too
insensitive
• can monitor increase in proteolysis over
time as good indication of protease activity
and shelf-life
 Severity of heating
• The more severe the heating, the less age
gelation
• More gelation in direct-processed (steam
injection or steam infusion) milk than
indirect-processed
• Mostly related to inactivation of proteases
but also to increased denaturation of whey
proteins which attach to casein and
protect it from protease action
 Quality of the raw milk
• Most important
• Poor quality milk has high bacterial count and/or
high somatic cell count
• High bacterial count leads to production of heat-
resistant proteases (and lipases)
• High somatic cell count leads to increased
plasmin levels
 Season/stage of lactation

• Early-lactation milk gels faster than late-

lactation milk
• In southern Australia, this corresponds to
spring milk.
• Seasonal effects can be due to variations in
mineral balance, casein/whey protein ratio
and plasmin levels.
 Additives
• Several additives have been tested for their ability to delay
age gelation
• The most effective is sodium hexametaphosphate
(polyphosphate, Calgon)
• some companies add it routinely
• it can be added before or after heat treatment
• delays gelation without affecting proteolysis
• effect due to stabilisation of casein micelles via a calcium
caseinate-polyphosphate complex.
• Other phosphates such as disodium hydrogen phosphate,
commonly used as a stabiliser to neutralise ionic calcium,
enhances gelation
• Added whey proteins tend to delay gelation
Fat separation
 Fat separation
• A fat layer forms on top of milk or remains
clinging to side of container when emptied
• Often due to insufficient homogenisation
• Decreases with homogenisation pressure (up to
400 bar or 40 MPa)
• Can be due to damaged homogeniser valves!!
• Related to size of fat globules - both average
(should be < 1m) and range; large globules
are major problem
• Number of large globules (rule of thumb: < 2%
should be 5m and < 5% should be 2m)
 Fat separation (cont)
• Number of large fat globules increases
with time of storage due to coalescence
• Cause unclear
• Can be associated with age gelation
due to aggregation of casein associated
with the homogenised fat globules
Sedimentation
 Sedimentation
• Most milks have slight sediment (~0.1% V/V)
• Can give milk a chalky taste
• Most sediment forms during processing not during
storage
• Often not apparent at manufacture; settles during
storage
• Cause of sedimentation not always obvious; can
present intermittently
• Low pH (≤ 6.5) at processing is a major cause;
related to heat stability of the caseins
• Mineral balance important – high ionic calcium is
another major cause
• Increases with severity of heating
 Sedimentation (cont)
Can be higher in :
• goat milk [has high ionic calcium level]
• calcium-fortified milk [fortification usually by
insoluble salts such as Ca CO3]
• chocolate milk [sediment of cocoa particles
reduced with stabilisers]
Sediment is similar to fouling material
• More sediment in directly heated UHT milk
because less fouling deposit attaches to walls of
heat exchanges and stays in milk
 Sediment formation (cont)

• Can be reduced by adding sodium citrate

[increases pH and also chelates calcium and
magnesium ions]
• Decreased by homogenisation
• Can be quantified by centrifugating milk
under defined conditions and measuring
pellet (dry or wet)
Non-sterility
 Microbial contamination

Microbial contamination in UHT is not common

It has 2 causes:
1. Contamination with spore-formers whose
highly heat-resistant spores survive the
UHT treatment
2. Post-sterilisation contamination
 Heat-resistant spore-formers
• Spores can accumulate in plant, eg under seals, in
cracks, etc
• Can form biofilms and produce proteases
• 2 major types:
• Thermophilic – can only grow at > 45°C
• Mesophilic – prefer to grow at room temperature
 Thermophilic spore-formers
• Main one is Geobacillus stearothermophilus
• Some spores can survive 156°C for 6 sec
• Gives ‘flat sour’ detect (acid, no gas)
• Normally not a problem; does not grow at < 45°C
• Has caused problems in very hot climates, e.g.
Middle East, in containers crossing Equator
• A potential problem in sterilised milk in vending
machines (e.g., in Japan) which are kept hot (~
60°C) until purchased
Mesophilic heat-resistant sporeformers
Major one of concern is Bacillus sporothermodurans
• Mesophilic but very heat-stable is an unusual and
bad combination
• Has caused major problems in Europe, Brazil,
South Africa, China etc
• Caused factories to close down in Europe
because it could not be eradicated from plants
• Not a spoilage problem, only defect reported was
pink discoloration
• Recycling of milk implicated; practice now ceased
(we hope!)
• Rare in Australia and New Zealand
Mesophilic heat-resistant sporeformers
(cont)
Another one is Paenibacillus
• Has been isolated with Bacillus
sporothermodurans from UHT milk in Germany
• Can also be a psychrotroph
• Common spoiler of pasteurised milk in New York
State
• Appears to be able to be thermophilic,
mesophilic or psychrotrophic
• Is proteolytic and hence causes spoilage

• Not common in Australia; we hope it stays that

way
 Post-sterilisation contaminants
• The most common form of contamination in UHT
milk
• Spore-formers and non-spore-formers have been
isolated
• Sometimes it is unclear whether spore-former
contaminants are post-sterilisation contaminants or
have very heat-resistant spores that survive the
heat treatment
• Two major recalls of UHT milks in recent years
have been due to Bacillus subtilus and Bacillus
coagulans
• Normally spores of these would not survive UHT
 Post-sterilisation contaminants (cont)
A common contaminant is the mould Fusarium
oxysporum

• produces cheesey flavour, ropey texture

• contamination during aseptic packaging
• an environmental contaminant associated with
plants
• has occurred in many UHT plants, including
juice plants
• maintenance of positive (sterile)air pressure in
filler important
• difficult to decontaminate
 ESL milk
Quality issues, causes &
remedies
 Quality issues with ESL milk
Very different issues to those of UHT milks due to:
• Short shelf-life and storage at low temperature means defects
seen in UHT milks do not occur
Main issue is bacterial growth
Most ESL milk is packaged under very clean but not aseptic
conditions
• Post-processing contamination is inevitable and is the major
factor limiting the shelf-file of these milks
• Several different bacteria, both non-spore-formers and spore-
formers have been isolated
• Most are Gram-positive not Gram-negative as seen in
pasteurised milk
• Plant and filler should be decontaminated with hot water for
~120°C for 30 min
Psychrotrophic spore-formers in ESL milk
• Psychrotrophic spore-formers are a major concern
• ESL milks processed at < 130°C probably contain them
• Bacillus cereus is a concern as a small percentage of
strains are psychrotrophic and pathogenic; they form
endotoxins
• For ESL milks packaged aseptically without post-process
contamination, psychrotrophic spore-formers are the only
possible spoilage organisms
• It appears that heating at ≥ 134°C will destroy spores of
almost all psychrotrophic spore-formers
 Post heat treatment contamination
• A major problem in milks NOT packaged aseptically
• Bacteria isolated are generally not those in raw milk
or even pasteurised milk
• Bacteria are often specific to plant
• Contamination can be due to biofilm build-up in filler
• Very difficult to remove/decontaminate
• Bacillus cereus has been isolated from filler heads
 Flavour issues with ESL milk
• Bitter flavours can be encountered in ESL milk
• Almost certainly due to bacterial proteases produced in
the raw milk before processing
• Proteolysis by plasmin does not occur at refrigeration
temperatures

• Light-induced oxidised flavours can develop if the

ESL milk is not packaged in light-impermeable
packaging.
• ESL milks can be stored for > 30 days in lighted display
cabinets and hence even low light-permeability packages
may lead to off-flavour development.
Thank you for your
attention