The use of microfiltration technique in the production of skim milk powder: The effect of milk transport conditions on the microbiological and physicochemical properties of milk and milk powders

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study the effect of milk transport conditions and microfiltration (MF) treatment on the physicochemical and microbiological properties of milk and skim milk powder (SMP). The raw milk was determined as milk after milking (30–35°C), uncooled inner‐city milk (3 h at 20–25°C), cooled transport milk (12 h at 4–6°C) and the control milk (cooling to 4°C as soon as milking; non‐MF). SMP samples were produced from MF‐treated milk with membrane pore sizes of 0.5‐μm and 0.8‐μm. MF application provided up to 2.39, 1.27, 1.64 and 1.67 log reductions in counts of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria, yeast–moulds, Bacillus and Pseudomonas species in milk, respectively. MF treatment of milk improved the microbiological quality without any significant change in the chemical composition of SMPs.