Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, September 1899: Vol. LV, May to October, 1899Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, September 1899: Vol. LV, May to October, 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
For these several reasons there is developing a different method of
dealing with the problem. It is the well-known process of
_Pasteurization_. But although the process has been known for several
years, its application to the milk business on a large scale is quite
new. Pasteurization consists in heating the milk to a temperature of
only about 68° to 85° C. (165° to 185° F.), leaving it at this
temperature for a short time, and then rapidly cooling. The length of
time required depends upon the temperature used, being, of course,
shortest for the higher temperature, but it varies from some two
minutes to half an hour. This moderate heat does not necessarily
produce the cooked taste nor, as we shall see, does it involve an
expense which need raise the price. The temperature, however, is not
sufficient to destroy all bacteria, and for this reason is looked upon
with disfavor by those who feel that what is needed is an absolute
destruction of all bacteria. The Germans, who like to do things
thoroughly, do not take readily to Pasteurization, and there are
others besides Germans who insist that this treatment does not make
the milk safe. But if one is looking for practical possibilities
rather than theoretical success, there is perhaps at present more to
be said in favor of Pasteurization than sterilization.
Pasteurization is found to be sufficient to destroy all the strictly
pathogenic bacteria that are likely to be in milk. The germs of
diphtheria and typhoid are killed, and even the tubercle bacillus is
rendered innocuous by a few moments at a temperature of 75° C. The
resisting spores above mentioned are of course not destroyed, and many
other bacteria are left uninjured. But the bacteria which escape the
heat are not strictly pathogenic, and do not grow in the body. If they
produce any injury to the drinker it is because they grow in the milk
and produce injurious chemical products there. They are only
dangerous, therefore, after they have had an opportunity to grow in
the milk for some time. This opportunity they do have, as we have
seen, in sterilized milk, but they do not have the opportunity in
Pasteurized milk. Pasteurized milk is not designed for keeping, and
those who use it know that while the strictly pathogenic bacteria are
killed the milk will not keep. It will remain sweet a little longer
than raw milk, but it must be used at once. It must be treated just
like fresh milk. Under these conditions the bacteria do not commonly
have an opportunity of growing sufficiently to produce their poisonous
products before the milk is consumed. Practically, then, these
bacteria that resist the moderate heat of Pasteurization are of no
serious importance in connection with the healthfulness of milk.
Pasteurized milk has been deprived of all its strictly pathogenic
bacteria, and the germs still left will commonly have no opportunity
to grow very much before the milk is consumed. It is therefore the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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