Hannah Institute Research Articles

341. The effect of the pre-heating temperature on the bacterial count and storage life of whole milk powder spray-dried by the Krause process

1. Storage tests on spray-dried full-cream milk powders prepared from milk preheated at 160,170,180, 190 and 200° F. for approximately 20 sec. and dried by the Krause process have been carried out at 47, 37 and 15° C. or room temperature. The storage tests were carried out independently at two different research stations. At the Hannah Institute the powders were packed in plain tin-plate containers as received from the factory. At Cambridge grease-free plain tin-plate and lacquered tin-plate containers were used. Deterioration was followed at both stations by a tasting panel and by determination of the amount of oxygen absorbed by the powder and of the accumulation of peroxide in the fat.2. When fresh the powder pre-heated at 180° F. had the best flavour, followed in order of preference by those pre-heated at 190 and 200° F., which had a definite but quite pleasant ‘boiled’ or ‘cooked’ flavour, and by those pre-heated at 160 and 170° F. which had an incipient tallowy flavour, but were nevertheless still acceptable. The 200 and 190° F. powders gave a strong reaction for volatile sulphur, the 180° F. powder a much weaker but quite definite reaction, and the 170 and 160° F. powders a negative reaction. The copper content of the 180° F. powder which, with the 170° F. sample, was the highest of the group, may have been partly responsible for the weakness of the reaction for volatile sulphur given by this sample. The solubility of the 180, 190 and 200° F. powders was not adversely affected by the high pre-heating temperatures, and the moisture contents of all the powders were sufficiently low to prevent any obvious loss of solubility, which remained very good indeed throughout the storage tests.