Experts tell us which packaging is best to buy milk in and why it doesn't produce cream. Scientists have proven: milk in plastic bags can be extremely dangerous Milk in plastic bags

Milk is made from powder, palm fat is added to it, and it is sold along with antibiotics used to treat cows... You hear so many horrors about milk! In fact, it’s not all that scary, and you can find tasty, natural and healthy milk in stores. The main thing is to know the rules for choosing this valuable product.

Just one glass of natural cow's milk provides a person with 13% of the daily requirement of protein, 21% of vitamin D, 25% of calcium, 10% of potassium, 18% of phosphorus, 11% of selenium and 22% of vitamin B2. And that's not all - along with the snow-white drink, our body receives 35 mg of beneficial fatty acids with anti-cancer effects, a set of 10 essential amino acids, magnesium and zinc. All this means that if you do not have lactose intolerance (people who cannot tolerate milk sugar, lactose, suffer from it), drink milk regularly, cook cereals and soups with it, make delicious cocktails and desserts. It is best to use natural fresh milk from a personal cow, but, alas, city residents cannot afford such luxury. Therefore, they have two ways out of the situation: find a proven thrush at the nearest market and buy fresh milk only from her (the main thing is not to forget to boil it) or purchase dairy products in the store.

No more powdered milk?!

Four years ago there was a big fuss around milk - information was revealed that most of the product on our shelves was made from milk powder. The result of inspections and investigations was new law- technical regulations on milk and dairy products. He obliged producers to call “milk” only those products made from raw cow’s milk. If dry powder is used for production, such a delicacy should be called nothing more than a “milk drink”. Manufacturers began to strictly follow the letter of the law and in 1999, after the introduction of regulations, they produced more than 80 thousand tons of “milk drink”. However, consumers ignored it, and 70% of the powder product had to be disposed of. Since then, a product with this name is found only in remote regions of the North and Far East, where there is no dairy production, and it is not economically profitable to transport boxes with liquid contents from the European part. Now on our shelves " dairy product“Simply not, only “milk” is present. Does this mean that all products are made exclusively from natural cow's milk without adding powder? Alas, no one can give you a guarantee, especially in winter, when there is a catastrophic shortage of fresh produce. Therefore, trust your taste and give preference to a manufacturer who has managed to earn your respect.

Antibiotic and palm fat

In addition to the powder component, many buyers are frightened by the presence of vegetable palm fat in milk, as well as antibiotics used to treat sick cows on collective farms. Dairy industry experts reassure and claim: in this case there are more rumors than truth. Palm fat is the scourge of such concentrated fatty products as butter, sour cream, cheese, curd cheeses, curd. There is simply no point in adding it to liquid milk. But in order to avoid buying a product with antibiotics, you need to purchase not the products of unknown small dairies, but delicacies from large production facilities, which, in addition to drinking milk, produce a whole line of fermented milk drinks. At such enterprises, raw materials with antibiotics cannot be accepted, since kefir, fermented baked milk or cottage cheese simply cannot be made from it.

Whole is the best!

If you want to drink the most healthy and high-quality milk, buy “selected whole milk”. This is the name of the drink, which is usually made from the best raw materials in terms of microbiological indicators from permanent, inspected farms. Moreover, it is not subjected to separation (division into cream and skim milk) and turns out to have the same fat content as the cows provided it with. In general, milk in cows can be 1.5%, 9%, or even 12%, but on average in the European zone this figure ranges from 2 to 6%. The drink from different cows is homogenized to a homogeneous state (therefore, the whole drink does not form a creamy foam, like the steamed one) and a certain average is obtained. It must be measured and indicated, so look for accurate information about the fat content of selected milk in a bottle or box on the label. Typically it varies from 3.5 to 5.0%.

If a whole product is too fatty for you, you can buy normalized milk - the one on which the fat content percentage is clearly and largely indicated (from 0.5% and above). It is made as follows: the manufacturer first separates (divides) the drink into cream and skim milk, and then mixes them in different proportions and brings them to the required standard, which is why such milk is called normalized.

Ultraprocessing

Dairies use pasteurization, sterilization and ultra-pasteurization. Pasteurization is the rapid processing of milk to +90º C. Some of the beneficial lactic acid microorganisms and harmful bacteria remain after it, so this product should only be stored in the refrigerator (after opening the package it may turn sour). Another thing is sterilized milk. It is absolutely safe, but practically useless, since the vitamins in it are completely destroyed (and it will never make curdled milk). Therefore, if you want to safely drink milk from a bottle and still get benefits from it, choose an ultra-pasteurized product. It was heated to +140º C in just 2-3 seconds, which rid the drink of dangerous microflora and preserved the vitamins in it. This is the most progressive and gentle processing mode, which allows you to store milk at room temperature for up to six months (the same applies to sterilized milk). But this does not mean that, once you open the pack, you can use it for weeks. If you open the package, keep it in the refrigerator and drink the contents within 1-2 days. By the way, this applies to any milk.

The box replaced the glass

The most ideal packaging for milk is a glass bottle - it is made of an inert material that does not react with the contents in it. However, glass breaks, is difficult to carry in a bag, and the product it contains costs more. Therefore, manufacturers came up with a modern alternative to bottles - multilayer carton boxes with an aluminum foil pouch. This type of packaging is as close as possible to glass packaging in terms of its performance, which is why it is considered the best today. The rest should not be rejected either, but they have their drawbacks. For example, simple cardboard allows a little air to pass through, so quickly spoiled pasteurized milk is usually poured into it. Although plastic bags and PET bottles are considered safe, they still impart a subtle plastic smell to the drink they contain.

Milk is one of the oldest and healthy drinks. It delivers minerals (calcium, magnesium, phosphorus), microelements (iron, iodine, fluorine), and vitamins to our body. But is all milk healthy without exception? And how does temperature treatment or packaging affect its quality? To these and other questions during round table, held in the editorial office of “MY!”, answered the head of production of Voronezh Dairy Plant OJSC Lyubov BULDIGINA, head of the marketing department of Tula Dairy Plant OJSC Elena ARTYOMOVA, deputy director of Nashe Donskoye LLC Sergei GARSHIN, public figure Nikolai SAPELKIN, doctor -gastroenterologist Irina VOROBYOVA, dairy technologist, teacher at the Voronezh Technological Academy Ekaterina BOGDANOVA.

* What is the difference different ways milk processing?

The quality of milk depends on the processing method. The higher the temperature, the less harmful bacteria there are in the milk. And the shorter the processing time, the more nutrients remain in the milk.

Sterilized milk. Processed at temperatures above 100°C for an hour. This kills both harmful and beneficial microorganisms. This milk can be stored at temperatures up to 20°C for up to six months.

Pasteurized milk. The milk is heated to 75°C within 2 - 3 minutes. This allows you to preserve most of the nutrients. This milk sours quite quickly (shelf life is on average 7 - 10 days). Pasteurized milk should only be stored in the refrigerator.

Ultra-pasteurized milk. The milk is heated within four seconds to a temperature that exceeds 100°C. This is enough to destroy harmful bacteria. At the same time, microelements (the same calcium necessary for the skeletal system) and others useful material are saved.

This milk is very convenient, for example, for long trips, since it has a long shelf life even at a temperature of +20°C, that is, it does not require refrigeration, explains the production manager dairy plant“Voronezh” Lyubov Buldygina.

* Should milk be soured into curdled milk?

Pasteurized milk can turn into sour milk if you put it in a warm place and add starter - kefir, sour cream, says Elena Artyomova, a representative of the Tula plant. - We are often asked why milk does not turn curdled in the refrigerator. Any food industry specialist will tell you that this should not happen. Bacteria cause milk to sour. During pasteurization, pathogenic microflora is destroyed, and there are fewer lactic acid bacteria. When milk is in the refrigerator, the bacteria present in it are not enough to cause active souring. In other words, milk souring too quickly is a sign of excessive contamination. In any case, I do not recommend consuming any milk after the expiration date; bitterness and other unpleasant properties may appear in it, even if it is not sour. All of the above does not apply to sterilized milk. It will not make curdled milk, since the microflora is completely destroyed.

* Why is there no layer of cream on the surface of the milk now, like there was on bottled milk 20 years ago?

Milk should be a homogeneous liquid, without sediment, says technologist Ekaterina Bogdanova. - Milk with high fat content should not have cream sediment. If they are present, this is considered a milk defect. Now, compared to Soviet times, technologies for breaking down fat globules (and cream is fat) have become more advanced, so often when we buy milk, we do not see this layer of cream.

* What kind of packaging is best to buy milk in?

- Carton boxes. Sealed packaging protects the product well from spoilage, and due to its opacity, milk is not subject to oxidation from sunlight.

Opaque plastic bottles. The degree of sun protection is not bad, but a little worse than that of the boxes.

Plastic bags. They are made of multilayer film with a black layer inside. This is the cheapest and most vulnerable packaging. It is usually used for pasteurized milk, which can be stored for no more than 5 days.

Bottles (glass and transparent plastic). They are sealed, but do not protect the product from sunlight. This disadvantage of transparent containers is offset by the fact that they are usually used for pasteurized milk, which cannot be stored for a long time. The bottle should be kept in a dark place.

* To drink or not to drink raw milk?

Many Voronezh residents prefer to buy “their own” milk - village milk. It is believed that it is both tastier and healthier.

“I drink up to 3 liters of raw milk every day instead of water,” says our guest Nikolai Sapelkin. - I noticed that I began to hurt less, my hair and nails became stronger.

Raw milk in Voronezh, right after milking, can be purchased not only from grandmothers, but also from milk vending machines installed on the streets.

The shelf life of such milk is one day,” the deputy joins the conversation. Director of Nashe Donskoye LLC Sergei Garshin. - Every morning, a specialized refrigerator transports containers of milk to the vending machines, where the desired temperature is maintained. Such milk must undergo veterinary control.

Meanwhile, doctor Irina Vorobyova still advises boiling raw milk to avoid poisoning. And technologist Ekaterina Bogdanova clarifies that unpasteurized milk can be consumed if there is one hundred percent confidence that the cow is absolutely healthy.

They were bottled in glass bottles or paper bags; plastic bags were quite expensive and rare. But the time has come, and the production of plastic has become cheaper and more widespread. We can no longer imagine our lives without cheap plastic. Very often, people leave plastic bags and bottles to store food in them, and milk producers, in order to reduce the cost, prefer to bottle it in plastic bags and plastic bottles. However, the site has found that this can become extremely dangerous to your health.

Milk from polymer containers

Scientists have long proven that plastic is not as harmless as manufacturers make it out to be, and even those who use such products to package products, including milk. However, consumers still most often trust the manufacturer and do not look for additional information. And the picture is quite sad.

Scientists took samples of milk from plastic bags and bottles and conducted a study of it. It turned out that phthalates were found in almost 60% of milk from plastic bags and 40% of milk from bottles. Phthalates and Bisfinol A are potentially hazardous substances that are added to impart shape or strength to a material. However, as the container ages, they are able to migrate into food products.

Scientists have proven that these substances, entering the human body with foods, can increase the level of estrogen, which contributes to the development of prostate, testicular, and breast cancer, reduce brain activity, provoke cardiovascular diseases and delayed brain development in children.

Be carefull!

What to do to avoid such risks? The answer to this is given by toxicology scientists. They urge you to be as vigilant as possible when choosing products in polymer containers.

About ten types of different polymers are used to produce plastic containers for products. Special attention It is worth paying attention to the labeling on the container. It will tell you what the packaging is made of. These are triangles in the form of arrows with a number inside or Latin letters below them.

The most dangerous plastics are polystyrene (PS, or “06”), polyvinyl chloride (PVC, “03”), and other (O, “07”). It is these materials that contain dangerous phthalates and Bisphenol A. Therefore, you should choose packaging marked “BPA-free” or “Does not contain bisphenol A”, “BPA free”. If there are no such marks, then it is better to refuse the product in such packaging, especially for children and pregnant women. If this is not possible, then you should give preference to the product in polypropylene packaging (PP, “05”)

It is worth remembering that the safest for health is PET ("01"). It is from this that containers are made mineral water, milk, soft drinks. But we should not forget that the maximum shelf life of such material is 1 year.

It must be remembered that plastic containers are most often NOT intended for reusable food use. It is considered to be conditionally safe. This means that it is safe only if the containers are used strictly for their intended purpose, storage conditions are observed and within the prescribed period, no more. In addition, violation of storage conditions - mechanical damage or failure to comply with the thermal regime greatly reduces this period.

Therefore, toxicologists recommend completely abandoning the use of plastic utensils and cutting boards Houses. And when purchasing products in polymer packaging, do not store it and do not use it in the future. The best thing you can do is throw these containers in a plastic recycling bin.

And remember, your health is in your hands!