The Milk Hot-Holding System Collective Observations and Recommendations
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Milk Hot-Holding System Collective observations and recommendations Executive Summary Milk is a significant source of calories, macronutrients, vitamins and minerals in the human diet. However, milk often contains harmful pathogens which tend to multiply in the time between milking and the marketplace. Well-developed industry standards mitigate this concern through modern hygienic handling protocols and pathogenic reduction processes. In the developing world, however, most milk is not processed by a modernized dairy with its specific quality standards. Regional farmers may bring their raw milk to centralized co-ops that endeavor to properly process the incoming milk, but these small local operations are not able to produce milk to regulatory standards and thus cannot gain the benefits of providing product into the regulated mainstream commercial markets. To help address this concern, Global Good and Intellectual Ventures Laboratory (IV Lab) have worked on the development of a Hot-Holding System (HHS) for inactivating milk pathogens and storing milk safely. This type of system heats raw milk to specific temperatures and timeframes that reduce the harmful pathogens while retaining beneficial qualities of the milk. This document provides specific details of the hot-holding process as well in-depth materials about several studies related to the HHS project and milk safety issues with a focus on milk handling practices in developing nations. Copyright © 2013 Global Good - www.globalgood.com L000304 - Page 1 of 63 Table of Contents 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 3 2. Nutrition Testing ....................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 5 2.2 Results and Discussion .................................................................................................. 5 2.3 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 12 3. Microbiology Testing ............................................................................................... 13 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 13 3.2 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................... 14 3.3 Results ......................................................................................................................... 16 3.4 Discussion.................................................................................................................... 23 3.5 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 25 4. Validation Testing ................................................................................................... 26 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 26 4.2 Methods Overview ...................................................................................................... 26 4.3 Results ......................................................................................................................... 29 4.4 Discussion.................................................................................................................... 31 4.5 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 31 5. Milk Curdling ........................................................................................................... 32 5.1 Introduction and Background ..................................................................................... 32 5.2 Curdling Observations ................................................................................................. 39 5.5 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 54 6. Next Steps ............................................................................................................... 56 6.1 Addressing Heat Applied to Milk ................................................................................ 56 6.2 Addressing Milk Quality .............................................................................................. 57 6.3 Addressing Other Kenyan Milk System Improvements .............................................. 58 6.4 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 59 References .................................................................................................................. 60 Works Cited ....................................................................................................................... 60 List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... 62 List of Figures .................................................................................................................... 63 Copyright © 2013 Global Good - www.globalgood.com L000304 - Page 2 of 63 1. Introduction Boiling and pasteurization are commonly practiced methods of reducing pathogens in milk to improve its safety; however, heat treatment can also decrease the nutritional content of milk. Chilling and refrigeration are also commonly employed before and after pasteurization to reduce bacterial growth and extend shelf life. In Kenya, approximately 500 million liters of milk entered the formal dairy sector in 2012, representing approximately 20% of total production.1-2 Overall, estimates from 2012 and 2013 put the overall contribution of dairy to Kenya’s GDP at 4% and 8% respectively.3-4 A standard pasteurization procedure is to rapidly heat milk to 63C, hold for 30 minutes, then rapidly cool to 4C.5 Higher temperatures are also used but for correspondingly less time to avoid destabilization or curdling from excessive heat exposure. For example, UHT pasteurization takes place at temperatures above 135C.52 At this temperature, the milk is effectively sterilized for long-term room- temperature storage but is exposed to this heat for less than one second before it is rapidly cooled to prevent curdling. In modern dairies, processes that require milk heating such as pasteurization, evaporation, and drying are carefully controlled to minimize the milk’s exposure to elevated temperatures for extended times. Quality standards for incoming raw milk have been established based on levels of bacterial growth. When possible, both incoming raw milk as well as outgoing pasteurized milk are kept chilled to curtail bacteria growth. These standards are strictly followed. Due in part to these high quality standards, the entire dairy industry in the developed world is carefully managed to minimize bacterial contamination of raw milk. In the developing world, however, most milk is not processed by a modernized dairy with specific quality standards (i.e., it remains in the informal sector). The small local milk co-ops are not able to produce milk to regulatory standards and thus cannot gain the benefits of providing product into the regulated mainstream commercial markets. In an effort to increase incomes for small holder farmers and to increase the supply of safe, processed milk, Global Good and IV Lab developed a Hot-holding System for inactivating milk pathogens and storing milk. This is accomplished by heating milk to 65°C and holding it at temperature for at least 30 minutes followed by retaining the temperature above 55°C for 24-72 hours. Some of the potential advantages of this method include reductions in infrastructure costs (packaging, chilling, and distribution), reductions in energy use, reductions in supply-chain length, and increased profit margins for small holder farmers. The Hot-Holding System does not cool milk after heating and thus does not adhere to a complete pasteurization process as defined by KEBS.37 As such, laboratory testing was undertaken in the United States and in Kenya to evaluate the effects of the HHS on milk nutrition as well as on the microbiological safety of the process. Validation testing was also conducted in Kenya to recreate and confirm the microbiological safety results in the field. Descriptions of this testing as well as some proposed next steps are presented in this report. They appear in the following sequence: Copyright © 2013 Global Good - www.globalgood.com L000304 - Page 3 of 63 Nutrition Testing Nutritional testing focused on three vitamins: vitamins A and B2 showed limited degradation vs. control in the HHS, whereas Vitamin B12 concentration eventually dropped by almost one half. This B12 degradation is consistent with published analyses of ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurized milk during ambient storage. Microbiology Testing In regards to microbiological safety, milk was sampled for microbial growth before and during the hot- holding process. The process effectively killed microorganisms and inhibits growth of surviving microorganisms. Initial raw milk samples had a range of total viable cell count (TVC) from 2.5 x104 – 2.7 x 107 CFU/ml. After 30 min at 65°C, all but one