Why Does Organic Milk Have a Longer Shelf Life Than The Regular Kind?

Popular Science has all the delicious answers

By Catherine Schwanke Posted 04.09.2009 at 10:17 am 7 Comments

Udderly Hot Hormone-free milk is pasteurized at top temperatures to keep it fresh longer Ulrik Tofte/Getty Images

It all has to do with where the cow was milked. "Organic milk often has to travel thousands of miles to reach distribution points," says Dean Sommer, a cheese and food technologist at the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin. To survive the journey and leave time to spare in the fridge, farmers pasteurize organic milk at higher temperatures than conventional milk.

Nearly all milk is pasteurized, or heat-treated, to kill off disease-causing microbes. Heating organic milk upward of 200°F instead of the typical 161° destroys more of the organisms responsible for spoiling milk. With those bugs knocked out, organic milk lasts 25 to 40 days longer than the ordinary stuff.

But there’s a catch. The extra heating is expensive and can give the milk "a cooked or scorched flavor," Sommer says. And be sure to drink up once you crack the carton. Exposed to air, organic milk goes bad just as quickly as any other milk.

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7 Comments

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Phoghat

from Elmhurst, NY

04/10/09 at 5:57 am

What ever happened to irradiation as a method to prevent spoilage in food products?

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trestle

04/11/09 at 12:30 pm

Irradiation is expensive and can lead to consumer relations problems. Furthermore, irradiation is only applicable for a limited number of foods. Pasteurization is nearly universally accepted by the public and works well.

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GreenBean

05/25/09 at 7:56 pm

"Organic milk often has to travel thousands of miles to reach distribution points"

I don't really see this as an issue, especially as organics become more desirable and more sellers enter the marketplace. The milk I buy is from a dairy less than an hour from my house. A larger company, Organic Valley, has more than 1,000 farms spread throughout the country, practically ensuring that the milk you buy is regional. I'm curious what brands this statement is referring to.

I also have to disagree with the comment that "The extra heating is expensive and can give the milk "a cooked or scorched flavor," -- What kind of milk is THAT guy drinking? I have never experienced this. In fact, I find organic milk to taste SO much better than conventional that I believe I'd buy it even if it weren't for the environmental and other benefits.

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Hediye

01/05/10 at 2:29 am

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soon2beam

01/20/10 at 6:02 pm

Irridation, like pasteuriztion, decomposes natural digestive enzymes normally contained in fresh foods, so our bodies must redirect enzymes normally used for tissue growth in order (just) to digest these (compromised) foods.

With over-utilization of growth enzymes for digestion, plus gradual aging, these (bodily) enzyme resources become more quickly depleted, so the body ages even faster, along with increased compromise of immune response capabilities.

So, this higher temperature pasteurization is 'better' because ... ???

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