Scientific Consideration in Determining Shelf Life of Market Milk

시유의 유통기간 결정에 관한 학문적 고찰

The shelf lift of market milk should be determined based on the flavor which is influenced by environmental and sanitary conditions of dairy farm, milk processing plant, and storage and transportation facility as well as compositional quality, such as protein and fat, of the milk itself. The legal shelf life of market milk is often limited by microbiological quality, e.g. total bacterial count, coliform count, and food poisoning bacteria. The bacteria involved with milk spoilage and poisoning are originated from bacteria contaminating milk after pasteurization or spores surviving the heat treatment of pasteurization. The important factors which influence the shelf life of market milk are microbiological quality of raw milk, pasteurization condition, post-pasteurization contamination, and temperature during storage and transportation. The organoleptic quality and shelf life of market milk should be further improved by satisfying the consumer's taste, which depends on somatic cell count and bacterial count of milk, feed quality, foreign substance in milk, and physical treatment during processing and transportation.