When we hear about milk you might have heard the terms like pasteurization and homogenized. Both processes are important but different. No doubt, milk is consumed in the most amount in India. In this topic, we are going to tell you about how pasteurized and homogenized milk is different.
The dairy market has gained a lot of popularity and there are many dairy alternatives available. Well, there are 2 main terms which might you might have come across like pasteurization and homogenization. Both processes are a very important part of the dairy business. Getting to know how the food we eat gets on the table will be quite interesting.
Understanding the difference
Pasteurization
To make the milk safer milk pasteurization machine is very useful. Well, the main purpose of this method is focused on taste and consistency. The best part is that it won’t affect the nutritional value in any way. The dairy machinery will heat the milk to destroy the harmful bacteria and this helps in increasing the shelf life.
- The milk is heated at 161.6° F for a few seconds and known as HTST (High-temperature Short-Time). The type of pasteurization will manipulate milk for a different purpose. This milk type is labeled as “pasteurized”
- The milk in small dairies or homes will undergo low-temperature of 145° F for half n hour as the milk needs to be consumed quickly.
- Another technique is UHT (Ultra-Heat Treatment) in which milk is heated to 280° F for a few seconds only. With this, the shelf-life can be extended to 6 to 9 months. This milk type is labeled as “ultra-pasteurized.”
Homogenization
- This process is different from pasteurization. This type of milk is treated mechanically to ensure it has a smooth and even consistency. Its main purpose is to break the fat molecules so that they do not get separated. When the milk is not homogenized the on the top of the fat molecules will come and a cream layer is formed.
- With homogenization, the heating and cooling will make the milk go through tiny holes that break the fat molecules and this way it gets suspended into the rest of the liquid.
- The dairy farm owners can create uniform products from a different herd of cows and this way the milk is filtered easily and also shelf-life is increased.
- In this process, there is no use of additives or any type of chemical treatment is not done.
This method is very helpful in filtering the fat and create skin milk in one or two percent. By skimming the cream from the top differently fat content can be achieved and this makes the homogenization process better.
In case you are planning to open your dairy farm then you should keep these processes in mind to give a quality product to end-users.
