Protein Stability in Sterilised Milk and Milk Products

Abstract

The principal aim of heat-treating foods is to produce microbiologically safe products and to extend shelf-life. Shelf-life may be defined as the period over which a product retains acceptable bacteriological, physical and (bio) chemical characteristics, which mostly comes down to more or less retaining the properties it had shortly after manufacture. Extension of shelf-life may be by some days only, even if the product is refrigerated, as for pasteurised milk, or by several years at ambient temperature, as for retort sterilised concentrated milk or sweetened condensed milk. Product composition, heat- treatment, storage conditions and, in addition, consumer attitude, all play a part in the attainable storage period.