IS NON-REFRIGERATED AND SHELF-
STABLE MILK BAD FOR YOU?
By Tiffany McHugh
T
he heat is on
when it comes to
non-refrigerated
m i l k . Tr u l y :
That’s how it’s
pasteurized and made shelf-
stable.
According to the International
Dairy Foods Association,
pasteurization is a process
that applies heat to destroy
pathogens in foods (similarly
to the way white blood cells
destroy pathogens like bacteria
and viruses in your body). For
refrigerated dairy products,
high-temperature short-
time (HTST) pasteurization
involves heating every particle
of milk or milk product to
at least 161°F using metal
plates and hot water. The
milk remains at high heat for
at least 15 seconds, followed
by rapid cooling. It then has
a shelf life of fi ve to 15 days.
Ultra-high-temperature
(UHT) pasteurization, also
known as aseptic processing,
involves heating milk using
sterile equipment and
filling it under “aseptic
Drink Asia
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conditions.” Voilà! Once you
swim through all that jargon,
you’re presented with shelf-
stable milk that will help you
survive should we ever fi nd
ourselves invaded by aliens
or stuck on a desert island
and forbidden from going
to Whole Foods. (Related:
Exactly Why Chocolate Milk
Has Been Called “The Best
Post-Workout Drink”)
Back to the whole “aseptic”
thing. All aseptic operations
are required to file their
processes with the Food
March-April 2020
and Drug Administration.
Therefore, there is no set
time or temperature for
aseptic processing. The
FDA’s “Process Authority”
establishes and validates the
proper time and temperature
based on the equipment
used and the product being
processed. Basically, this non-
refrigerated milk is watched
more closely than any child
you ever babysat. (BTW, have
you heard about peanut milk?)
“Dairy products that
have been heat-sterilized