Milk And Beverage Analysis

Milk & Beverage Analysis

Milk and beverage are designed for human nutrition and as such have many ingredients that promote cellular growth. However, these ingredients also promote bacterial growth. To decimate these microbes some form of heat treatment is given to these products and then they are packed sterile packed. To test the integrity of these packaging, sterility testing is necessary. Arasains Indonesia provides Promicol for sterility testing that can shorten the incubation time to 2-3 days. For other food products microbe load for prediction of shelf life is necessary.

Sterility Testing for Milk and Beverages: Promicol®

Milk and beverages are often heat treated to extend their shelf life. UHT products have a shelf life of 6 to 12 months and extended shelf-life products 4-7 weeks. The normal protocol for UHT products is incubated at 37°C for aerobics and 55°C for thermophillics for 5 days with an additional 2 days for bacterial enumeration. Extended shelf-life products have a shelf life of 42 days. Normal protocol requires 10 days of incubation at 20°C plus 2 days of enumeration leaving 30 days to sell the products. Promicol® can perform the sterility testing in 2 days. Promicol® measures the ATP from bacteria that has multiplied in the pack if the pack is compromised. Free ATP that is present in the milk is first removed by the addition of enzyme proase. Then Promex is added to release the ATP from the bacterial cells. Finally, Prolux is added to create a bioluminescence that is measured with a sensitive photocell. This light measurement is then correlated with the presence of bacteria. There is no sample preparation. Simply mix and pipette the sample to a microtiter plate and insert into the Promilite M4 reader and walk away. Results are available in 20 mins for 96 samples.



Applications:

Dairy UHT and ESL product, plant-based beverages, fruit juices, UHT goat and sheep milk, wine, beer, infant food, soup and sauces, non-dairy creams, pudding and desserts, non-alcoholic beverages.

Test for Lactose

Lactose is a disaccharide that is found in milk and it is a compound of galactose and glucose. There are about 4-5% of lactose in milk. In the stomach lactase hydrolyses the lactose for digestion and the lack of this enzyme causes lactose intolerance. The amount of lactose is one of the parameters defining the quality of milk and in many countries it enters into the payment scheme. This method follows the ISO 26462/IDF 214 method for the enzymatic determination of the lactose content of milk and reconstituted milk by measurement of the difference in pH. This method is a valid alternative to the HPLC method of lactose determination.

Test for L-lactic Acid

Lactic acid is produced by the fermentation of lactose by bacteria. Its concentration depends on the number of microbes in the milk and as such it is a good indicator of the freshness of the milk. Heat treatment like UHT destroys the bacteria in the milk but not the L-lactic acid and measurement of this parameter can tell the history of the milk product. This test can be done on other milk products like milk powder, whey after reconstitution in water. This method is used with the EC CL10 automated analyser which uses a differential pH technology to overcome the problems of Classical UV methods. With this enzymatic method accurate results with operative simplicity is achieved.

Test for Titratable Acidity

This is a test usually done in milk production to indicate the freshness of the milk. Bacteria in milk produces acid that can be measured even after heat treatment like pasteurization and UHT. Acidity is usually measured by acid base titration at a pH of 8.4 where the phenolphthalein indicator turns from colorless to pink. This color transition is difficult to see due to the masking effect of the milk solids. This problem is overcome with this differential pH technology of the EC CL 10 Plus analyser which uses an enzymatic method related to changes in pH.

Test for Citric Acid in Juice and Milk

Citric acid is present in milk at a level 0f 0.1-0.2%. Citric acid gradually decreases with aging in particular if the milk is soured. However it is not a product of fermentation but consumed during fermentation. Citric is commonly measured in juices as it is an organic acid that exist in all fruits especially citrus fruits used to make juices. Fruit juices vary in citric acid content depending on the type of fruit and the use of citric acid additives.
Citric acid in milk and fruit juices can be measured using the EC CL 10 plus. This technology uses a differential pH measurement combined with an enzymatic method to measure the amount of citric acid. This result is improved accuracy and simplicity of measurement.

Test for Urea in Milk

Urea in milk is measure to define its quality and is a crucial parameter that enters into the payment scheme in many countries. It is a method for determining dilution of milk with water. Urea content in normal milk is 24-33mg/100ml. The traditional method of determining the urea content of milk is tedious with labour intensive sample preparation. This measurement in traditional method is difficult due to interference from ammonium found in milk. However the differential pH technology used together with the EC CL10 Plus analyser precisely targets the urea in a simple procedure. This enzymatic procedure eliminates any potential interference from ammonium. Results are available in less than 1 minute.

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • How many samples can the promicol do in one hour

    700 samples.

  • Can promicol quantify the number of bacteria in the sample?

    Promicol measures the amount of ATP in bacteria. This amount of Atp depends somewhat on the species of bacteria or whether it is a mold and yeast. As such promicol can typically tell roughly the level of bacteria to log levels but measurement is imprecise.

  • What is the limit of detection of the number of bacteria?

    Usually this is limited to 103 bacteria.

  • Can promicol be used for chocolate drinks?

    Promicol has a special protocol for chocolate milk and as such can be used.

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