For milk from four herds of cows, maintained under different conditions of feeding and management, the natural Cu content and the stability of the ascorbate were highly correlated. Low Cu levels in milk from cows at pasture at farms A and B during the summer were associated with low storage losses of ascorbate. During this period, the milk of cows at farms C and D (on forage and Cu-supplemented concentrate) was richer in Cu, and losses of ascorbate were high. Heat treatment of the milk stabilized the ascorbate. Thus, in 'high Cu' milk (60/tgCu/l), loss of ascorbate in the raw milk was 58 % at 2 d, as against 17% after pasteurization at 72 °C and no loss after treatment at 82 °C. Storage of milk in light caused rapid destruction of ascorbate, equally with 72 and 82 °C heat treatments. The effects were examined of milk pasteurization temperature (72-82 °C) on flavour stability, bacteriological quality and vitamins of the B-complex. Heat treatment at 82 °C increased the susceptibility of vitamin B 12 to destruction by light, but otherwise caused no greater losses of B-complex vitamins than did treatment at 72 °C. Taste panel ratings showed an initial preference for milk heated at 72 °C, but on storage of this milk in darkness the flavour score fell progressively and at 5 d it was judged ' stale'. Treatment at 82 °C gave a faint 'cooked' flavour although, unlike that of the 72 °C-treated milk, the flavour remained stable throughout 14-d storage and after d 8 was increasingly preferred. On exposure to light after treatment at 72 °C milks rapidly acquired an unpleasant' oxidized' flavour, but after treatment at 82 °C, exposure to light had no such adverse effect on flavour during the early days of storage. Pasteurization at 80 °C offers a potential for improvement in the oxidative stability of milk and its contribution of vitamin C to the diet.

SummaryThe keeping quality (KQ) of whole milks pasteurized at 72 °C, 78 °C or 83 °C for 20 s and stored at 12 or 7 °C was examined by assessment of the naturally contaminating thermoduric microflora and of the numbers of Gram-negative rods, a single strain of the latter being introduced deliberately by post pasteurization inoculation. A pasteurization temperature of 83 °C reduced the KQ at 7 °C by about 15% compared with pasteurization at 72 °C or 78 °C, with a 2 d loss in the absence, and aid loss in the presence, of the post pasteurization contamination. The KQ of milks stored at 12 °C was not significantly affected by the pasteurization temperature. Milks pasteurized at 78 °C tended to have a slightly better KQ than those pasteurized at 72 °C, especially at 7 °C. However, pasteurization at both 78 °C and 83 °C caused a reduction in cream rising and considerably increased the risk of cream plugging.

Commercially pasteurized, non‐homogenized full cream milk in 2‐pt white polyethylene (PE)‐coated cartons overprinted with blue, and in 4‐pt PE bottles was stored for 4 d in the dark or under white fluorescent light of 4000 1x, at a temperature of 7°C. The flavour of milks kept in the dark remained good, but exposure to light resulted in early off‐flavour development: cartoned milk was disliked by a flavour panel after about 17.5 h exposure and milk in the PE bottles after 9 h. Vitamins A and B2 were stable in the milk during 4 d storage in the dark in both bottles and cartons, and in cartons exposed to light. In the bottled milks, light‐induced losses of these vitamins after 4 d were, respectively, 15% and 35%. but there was little or no loss before the development of light‐induced flavour. Loss of total vitamin C by day 4 was about 50% in the dark, irrespective of container. In the cartons exposed to light, 66% of the vitamin C was lost, while virtually none remained in the exposed, bottled milk. There was also a markedly greater loss of vitamin C in the bottled milk than in the cartoned milk at the time the flavour became unacceptable. The dissolved O2 concentration dropped considerably in the bottled milk exposed to light, but only marginally in the cartons. There were small increases in dissolved O2 in the dark in both types of container.

Bacterial contamination of pasteurized milk filled in a Liqui‐Pak®Model 820A cartoning machine has been examined. Compared with the conventional piston type, this new machine incorporates a number of design features to reduce or eliminate contamination during filling. The Model 820A did not normally cause post‐pasteurization contamination with psychrotrophic Gram‐negative rods, the typical spoilage organisms of conventionally filled pasteurized milk. This led to a considerable improvement in the keeping quality of the filled pasteurized milk, especially at a storage temperature of 7® C.