Thread: Pasteurization

Is pasteurization bad for the health of an individual?
Wouldn't the heat treating process kill cells and destroy other nutrients within the milk that is good for ones health?

Originally Posted by verzen

Is pasteurization bad for the health of an individual?

I should think so....

Originally Posted by verzen

Wouldn't the heat treating process kill cells and destroy other nutrients within the milk that is good for ones health?

Oh you meant pasteurizing food! Well there may be a point to that, but I suppose the overall balance of harm and benefit is in favour of pasteurization. Unless you have the privilege of drinking milk freshly brought from the cow.

PS excuse my Witzelsucht...

Cells should be killed by the process, after all that's what it's for- to kill bacterial cells. Whilst you do find some leukocytes (white blood cells) in milk, these wouldn't have much benefit for the consumer. The rest of the volume of milk is made up of various vitamins, proteins, lipids and emulsifiers which are not damaged by the pasteurisation process. If we skip pasteurisation, the shelf life of milk is shortened by a whole lot even when refrigerated. We also increase the risk of picking up salmonella, TB or several other bacterial infections from the milk.

In some developing countries though the milk is boiled for a period of time instead of being pasteurized, (Pasteurization actually only brings the milk to around 70 degrees celcius for 20 seconds). Apparently this alters the content of the milk so it taste significantly different from what most people in the west are used to.

Originally Posted by i_feel_tiredsleepy

In some developing countries though the milk is boiled for a period of time instead of being pasteurized, (Pasteurization actually only brings the milk to around 70 degrees celcius for 20 seconds). Apparently this alters the content of the milk so it taste significantly different from what most people in the west are used to.

Would curdle it I would have thought... That'll certainly make it taste different!

Originally Posted by TheBiologista

Originally Posted by i_feel_tiredsleepy

In some developing countries though the milk is boiled for a period of time instead of being pasteurized, (Pasteurization actually only brings the milk to around 70 degrees celcius for 20 seconds). Apparently this alters the content of the milk so it taste significantly different from what most people in the west are used to.

Would curdle it I would have thought... That'll certainly make it taste different!

Does boiling the milk alter the chemical makeup at all? Maybe doing something to the lactose? I am asking, because isn't it so that most developing countries' citizens are lactose intolerant? So could the boiling then be a way to get around that by altering the saccharide, in the same way that boiling starch (potatoes, etc) makes it digestible?

Originally Posted by KALSTER

Originally Posted by TheBiologista

Originally Posted by i_feel_tiredsleepy

In some developing countries though the milk is boiled for a period of time instead of being pasteurized, (Pasteurization actually only brings the milk to around 70 degrees celcius for 20 seconds). Apparently this alters the content of the milk so it taste significantly different from what most people in the west are used to.

Would curdle it I would have thought... That'll certainly make it taste different!

Does boiling the milk alter the chemical makeup at all? Maybe doing something to the lactose? I am asking, because isn't it so that most developing countries' citizens are lactose intolerant? So could the boiling then be a way to get around that by altering the saccharide, in the same way that boiling starch (potatoes, etc) makes it digestible?

I don't think it does anything to the lactose sugars. Normally casein forms small suspended pockets called micelles. If you heat the milk too much, the micelles will clump together and you get curds. Curdling is caused when the casein proteins denature. I guess if they boil the milk in some countries and it works then it needs to be sustained to get curdling. The flavour change is probably something to do with general protein denaturing.

In my childhood and youth, until sometime in late 1970s or the 1980s, UHT milk was unknown in Poland. You were expected to boil the milk you bought in a shop or got delivered by the milkman in the morning. It didn't curd, although it did develop a thin film of coagulated proteins and fats. The film formed some minutes after the boiling and was edible, although many children (including myself) found it yucky.

If milk was left to stand for sometime and only boiled later, it did curd. It could then be strained to produce a kind of simple homemade cheese, a valuable source of animal protein in times when meat was scarce.

If milk was left to stand even longer, it curded without boiling, becoming what we call sour milk, resembling yoghurt. A very refreshing cold drink, and also prized as a hangover cure.

You can do all of this with real milk straight from the cow. Not with the UHT milk you get in shops nowadays; it will rot rather than curd naturally.

Originally Posted by Leszek Luchowski

In my childhood and youth, until sometime in late 1970s or the 1980s, UHT milk was unknown in Poland. You were expected to boil the milk you bought in a shop or got delivered by the milkman in the morning. It didn't curd, although it did develop a thin film of coagulated proteins and fats. The film formed some minutes after the boiling and was edible, although many children (including myself) found it yucky.

If milk was left to stand for sometime and only boiled later, it did curd. It could then be strained to produce a kind of simple homemade cheese, a valuable source of animal protein in times when meat was scarce.

If milk was left to stand even longer, it curded without boiling, becoming what we call sour milk, resembling yoghurt. A very refreshing cold drink, and also prized as a hangover cure.

You can do all of this with real milk straight from the cow. Not with the UHT milk you get in shops nowadays; it will rot rather than curd naturally.

Hey! This brought back a few memories. Sour milk, homemade cheese (we call it maaskaas, English term is cottage cheese I think). I used to love sour milk. You can still bring your own container and fill it up with cheaper milk produced by a nearby farm (I live in a smallish town), which you could still get to curd by leaving it out (even though it is claimed to be pasteurised).