Introduction
Due to the improvement of technology in every industry and field in the global market, it had helped to improve as well as speed up the different processes and tasks in the production aspects of any company. There have been many advances in terms of technology that had affected the fluid milk processing industry for over 25 years including the processes of separation, standardization, pasteurization, homogenization as well as the process of packaging and marketing. Most of the advancements are directly beneficial for the production capacity, automation as well as the hygienic operation (Goff & Griffiths 2006).
One of this is the method of high heat treatment that can also be partner with the microfiltration or the process of centrifugation that can help to extend the shelf-life of the milks. Aside from that there are also different nonthermal methods that are being investigated to be used for the future. There have been many important innovations that helped to improve the quality of the products such as the improved knowledge of different functional properties of ingredients as well as their effects on the overall structures and textures of the milk. However, there are still many incidents of foodborne disease that are associated with the different milk and dairy products that serves as a drive for the industry to continue to study the different processes and techniques that will help to control the pathogen transmission of diseases. There have been many techniques that are being studies and used in order to detect different types of microorganisms that can be developed and improved (Goff & Griffiths 2006).
The Product
Milk can be considered as one of the least consumer products in the industry of beverages. This is due to the fact that there are more and more children who don’t want to drink milk. That is why more and more fluid milk companies are expanding their line of products by introducing greater diversity of fluid milk products for the consumer.
Flavored milk beverages have increased in popularity, especially those milk beverages that are packed in single-services and closable plastic containers (Goff & Griffiths 2006).
Flavored has the total of 3% of the total sales of milk during 2002. It can be considered as one of the smallest portion of milk sales. However, flavored milk represents greater than one-fourth of the milk sales growth during 2001, and it can be seen as one of the key in order to improve the increasing sales of the industry (Food Service Director 2003).
Chocolate is considered as the leading flavor, having the total of 85% of the total flavored milk sales. According to a survey, children drinks more milk if it is flavored chocolate (Wilson & Temple 2003, p. 216). Second, for the close fight is strawberry, and the third is vanilla (Food Service Director 2003). That is the reason why, those three flavors will be important part of the new products to be developed. The product is considered as more attractive for its consumer, more specifically those children.
Fluid Milk Processing
There are different processes and activities that must be done in order to produce fluid milk and flavored milk beverages. The process of production of the fluid milk includes the different unit of operations such as clarification, separation, pasteurization as well as homogenization (University of Guelph n.d.). Figure 1 shows the overall processes that are needed in order to create fluid milk and flavored milk.
The global industry of fluid milk has a standard for flavored milk. It must contain 93% of milk, 6.3% of sugar, 0.65% of the flavor such as cocoa, strawberry, etc, and 0.05% of carrageenan. Furthermore, the final product must contain from 1% up to 2% of fat or it has 2.15% or 1.1% fat in the milk before the process of adding the other ingredients in the product. The sugar and other flavored ingredients are all added dryly to the cold milk in forceful shakeup, and will later on be pasteurized (University of Guelph n.d.)
Figure 1 Fluid Milk Processing
Adapted from (University of Guelph)
Raw Side
The process or the production of flavored milk drinks begin with the raw side or the part where in the raw milk will be gathered or received from the suppliers of fresh raw milk. Upon receiving the raw milk, the raw milk will be graded, weighed as well as sampled. This will determine the price to be paid to the farmers or the suppliers.
The quantity of the milk that had been received will be stored in a specialized container in order to prevent spoilage.
Processing
There are different processes and activities that must be done in order to create or produce safe fluid and flavored milk. This is with accordance to the global standard of the milk industry.
The processing of flavored milk drink belongs to the mass processing. The production of different standardized goods for the mass market was introduced during the 20th Century in the United States. It was first used by Henry Ford that is the primary reason why the said system is also called as Fordism. It can be describe as the mass production of different goods via the use of dedicated machines as well as moving assembly lines, together with the techniques of hiring unskilled as well as semi-skilled labor forces in split jobs and tasks, with the tight labor discipline (LearningCurve.uk n.d.).
Milk Clarification, Separation and Standardization
Milk clarification is the process of removing the different impurities from the milk. It will help to efficiently reduce and remove the amount of leucocytes and bacteria (Tetra Pack Canada Inc. 2001). In addition, it also helps to remove the blood cells from the milk that can be sold as a whole milk like milk that contains all of the butterfat. On the other hand, the process of separation pertains to the process of removing all of the butterfat as well as other impurities from milk. The Skim milk will then be produced when all of the butterfat has been removed from the raw milk (Hub Pages n.d.)
This is being done by the use of specialized centrifuge that has a high hydraulic capacity (Tetra Pack Canada Inc, 2001).
Figure 2 Processes of Milk Clarification and Separation
Figure 2 shows the process of milk clarification and milk separation which are considered as two of the most important as well as preliminary process in production of fluid milk and flavored milk. The process starts with the use of the raw milk, the raw milk will be transfer from its storage room, to the place where in the specialized centrifuges or machines that handles the said processes. The employees or staff of the factory will have to transport the raw milk and put it in the machine or on the centrifuge.
The output for the said processes will be the skim milk. Afterwards, all of the skim milk that has been produced will undergo series of tests for butterfat and other solid contains in order to make sure that the skim milk will be released for the process of pasteurization. The said test is called as the standardization. The said process is being done inside a separate department or center of the company that will handles the testing procedures.
Pasteurization, Homogenization, Vitamin Fortification and Flavorings
The process of pasteurization is considered as the most important tasks that must be done for milk. It is the process that helps to remove different spoilage organism to the milk. It is being done by heating each and every particle of the milk or any milk product to a specific temperature for a given period of time and not allowing recontamination of milk during the process of heat treatment (University of Guelph n.d.). This can be done with the help of continuous method via the machines or the high temperature short time or HTST pasteurizer.
The next process is the homogenization or a mechanical treatment of the different fat globules in milk brought about by passing under high pressure through a tiny orifice. The result of the process will be decrease in the average diameter as well as increase in the number and surface areas of the flat globules (University of Guelph n.d.).
Vitamin fortification is the process that will help to strengthen the different good nutrients and vitamins of milk products. The process of creating the flavor will also be the last process to be done.
Adding the flavor of the milk will be done by the process of mixing the flavors such as chocolate, vanilla etc. This is being done by a machine that handles the process of proper mixing the ingredients.
The finished product will then be stored in a container and will be ready for the process of packing.
Figure 1 Flavored Milk Processes
Packaging
There are studies that show that bottle can improve and increase the shelf life of the flavored milk. That is why it will be important to use bottle than using carton and other types of container.
In the process of packaging, the aseptic packaging system will be used in order to sterilize different packaging materials in order to kill microorganisms that can be found in the packages that occur during the process of forming and transport to the machine before the process of filling (Ansari & Datta n.d.).
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