326. The effect of temperature of pre-heating, of clarification and of bacteriological quality of the raw milk on the keeping properties of whole-milk powder dried by the Kestner Spray Process

Abstract

(1) Increasing the pre-heating temperature of the milk from 165 to 190° F. before spray-drying greatly improved the resistance of the powder to the development of tallowy ‘off’-flavours on storage. From the results of accelerated tests at 47 and 37° C. a storage life (in air) of the order of 2 years could safely be predicted for the powders from milk pre-heated at the higher temperature. Confirmation has now been obtained by storage of the powders for 2½ years at 15° C. and at room temperature.(2) Improvement in the bacteriological quality of the milk supply, and more careful control during its passage through the plant, produced some improvement in the keeping properties of powders prepared from milk pre-heated at the lower temperature, but had relatively little effect on the keeping properties of the powder when the higher preheating temperature was used.(3) The shapes of the deterioration curves for the various powders showed that the effect of the higher pre-heating temperature and of improvement in the milk supply was to extend the induction period which precedes rapid deterioration. The protective effect of both factors was greater when measured at the ‘slightly tallowy’ or ‘fairly good’ stage than when comparison was made at a more advanced stage of decomposition.