Milk, oddly enough, is a seasonal product. The milk yield begins to rise in the spring, peaks in the summer and decreases significantly by winter. You can go around dozens of stores in search of "real" or "live", or, as technologists put it, "raw" milk, but still can not find it. Instead, bags from various manufacturers with mysterious words: "normalized milk" or "pasteurized milk" will show off in the dairy departments . For us, ordinary people, it causes bewilderment: what does this inscription mean?
But in fact, everything is simple. Normalized milk is milk that has been processed. The goal of technologists at dairy plants is to solve problem number one: not to allow milk to turn sour for as long as possible. And such methods are quite enough. The toughest and most common is sterilization (multiple boiling). The second way is pasteurization. The method is already more gentle: 30 minutes the milk is aged at a temperature of 65-70 degrees. The UHT marking (icon) indicates high-temperature processing: rapid heating (135 seconds in a few seconds), and then instant cooling.
But pasteurization is a common thing for the whole world. But the "revival" of milk from the powder is doubtful. And the phrase "normalized milk" often hides just such a pseudo-milk. How do technologists explain this?
Normalized milk can be of two types.
1. In accordance with a certain technology, whole fresh milk is brought to the fat content established by the standard.
2. Normalized milk (either recombined or reconstituted) is prepared from powder. I remember an old advertisement for juice "Invite" with a funny phrase "just add water." The principle is the same: the manufacturer adds water to the powdered milk. But for some reason he forgets to inform the buyer. Or do not forget?
The presence of powder in the purchased liquid can only be shown by spectral analysis. The usual traditional analysis of the results will not work. Only a special expertise is needed here. But those who know the taste of natural milk also recognize it by taste, without analysis: normalized powder milk has a sweet, specific flavor, characteristic only of powdered milk.
It’s a strange thing - it would seem that the sale of milk on a spill is beneficial to everyone: producer, buyer, sellers. Dairy farms constantly deliver fresh milk to stores, the buyer knows for sure that the milk is real (whole), and the stores themselves receive (could receive) a percentage of sales more than they get from packaged milk.
But there really are problems.
First, milk is a perishable product. This means that it can turn sour before it reaches the counter. This is a loss. Straight.
Secondly, milk that has not been thermally processed can bring “surprises” in the form of salmonellosis and tuberculosis. And if suddenly a suspicion falls on at least one animal, you have to stop sending the goods completely. Processing removes these issues.
Thirdly, to trade milk on the street (in the markets), you need to get a lot of different references and certificates. And for each party. From the permission of veterinary services to SES, which confirm the safety of products. It costs money. Everything rests on the availability of time and finance. And milk will not “wait”. Here the terms are tight. Therefore, the peasant is forced to deliver milk to the first buyer at the proposed, obviously low, price.
Both milk suppliers (peasants) and consumers deprived of a choice are losers. It turns out, as in Russian fairy tales: the mustache seemed to flow, but it didn’t get into the mouth.
One can only hope for the decency of the producers and do not forget to carefully read the inscriptions (especially those with a small print), with the hope that the normalized milk, which is on the shelf in front of us, refers to the "look No. 1" - whole and fresh .. .