What is milk made from? Is the package inside really whole drinking milk as stated on the label? Questions that many drinkers probably have when purchasing this healthy drink.

The journal “SPROS” published laboratory studies of milk from different brands. “Is milk made from milk or from powder? This is a question that many lovers of this product probably ask themselves when standing in front of store windows. The choice of milk is now huge, but which one will really benefit you and which one is just a waste of money? You will learn about this from our test.

First, let's turn to the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union 033/2013 “On the safety of milk and dairy products.” It states that drinking milk is a product made without the addition of milk solids and water. In other words, “naturally obtained” - from a cow. And a product in the manufacture of which powdered milk was used should be called a milk drink. However, manufacturers do not always comply with these rules, taking advantage of the fact that the veracity of their statements can only be verified in a laboratory. Therefore, we once again conducted a study of drinking pasteurized milk with a short shelf life.

Eight domestically produced brands took part in it - Asenyevskaya Farm, Cheburashkin Brothers, Izbenka (VkusVill LLC), Romanov Lug, Smetanin Trading House, Farmersky Product, DmitroGorsky Product, Staritsky Dairyman. All of them are called whole drinking milk, that is, they are positioned as natural milk, without the addition of “powder” and water. This is exactly what the experts had to find out first. In addition, the samples were checked for the presence of vegetable fats and starch (both of which are also unacceptable in real milk), as well as for the amount of protein, fat and non-fat solids (SMR). The quality of milk is judged by all these parameters.

During the tests, it was important to establish to what extent the samples really are whole drinking milk, in other words, natural milk, without the addition of water, “powder” and other ingredients. The samples were also checked for the presence of vegetable fats and starch, and the amount of protein, fat and dry fat-free residue was determined.

Test conclusions

  • In a sample of milk from the Smetanin Trading House, undeclared milk powder was found, as well as signs of adulteration of milk fat using vegetable fats. Moreover, the protein content turned out to be below normal.
  • In the remaining seven samples: Asenyevskaya Farm, Cheburashkin Brothers, Izbenka, Romanov Lug, Farmersky Product, DmitroGorsky, milk powder, vegetable fats and starch were not found. The content of protein and dry fat-free residue is normal. This means that all these samples are real drinking milk.

According to the standard, the permissible “underfill” of milk in a package can be no more than 15 g. For two samples of our test - Izbenka and Staritsky Milkman - this “ceiling” was exceeded (40 and 25 ml, respectively). For Asenyevskaya Farm milk, the deviation downward was 10 ml, which is acceptable. But three participants in the test had even more milk in the bags than indicated on the packaging: the Cheburashkin Brothers sample had 30 ml, the DmitroGorsky product had 22.8 ml, and Romanov Lug had 10 ml. The sample manufacturers, Farmer Product and the Smetanin Trading House, poured exactly as much milk into the bags as they wrote.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Until recently, it was impossible to detect milk powder in dairy products in a laboratory manner due to the lack of diagnostic kits. However, relatively recently, a technique has been developed that allows such studies to be carried out using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). It is based on the fact that as a result of the drying process, the proteins of raw milk change their spatial structure. Regions of molecules with altered structure are identified using a new test system. This technique was acquired, implemented and accredited by the Tver Interregional Veterinary Laboratory, which is a pioneer in this type of research in Russia.” (Source and photo: press service of the magazine “Spros”).

Milk is one of the most popular food products, the consumption of which is growing every year. Milk packaging affects the quality and final cost of the resulting product. Therefore, it is important for the manufacturer to choose the optimal packaging method so that the container complies with legal and consumer requirements, is attractive and economically profitable. In the article we will analyze the features of different types of milk packaging, requirements for it, design and labeling, what types of filling lines there are for dairy products.

Milk packaging

Requirements for milk packaging

Milk going on sale must be bottled in packaging that meets the conditions of the technical regulations of the Customs Union TR CU 005/2011 “On Packaging Safety”. The criteria outlined in the technical regulations make it possible to preserve the beneficial and taste characteristics of the product throughout the shelf life.

Milk packaging is required to meet the following criteria:

  1. It must be dense and opaque, otherwise its shelf life will be greatly reduced.
  2. The packaging should not have its own odor and should not allow the penetration of foreign odors.
  3. In the production of dairy containers, only high-quality materials can be used that do not contain metallic or volatile compounds and are resistant to the fat contained in milk.
  4. The milk container must contain information about the shelf life of the product, principles of use, and information about the manufacturer.

Kinds

Currently, there are the following types of milk packaging:

  1. Packaging milk in bags;
  2. Tetrapak (pure pack);
  3. Glass containers;
  4. Plastic (PET) bottles.

The first two options are the most common types of milk packaging. Let's take a closer look at them.

Milk bags

Soft packaging for milk today has gained great popularity due to its low cost and ability to preserve the beneficial properties of the product.

Milk bags are produced in 3 layers, the thickness of the milk film varies from 70 to 90 microns, the optimal thickness suitable for most filling lines is 80 microns.

Each layer has its own structure and functional features:

  • the outer layer is white and contains information about the product (manufacturer, expiration date, composition, etc.);
  • the next layer is black and is the middle layer. Its purpose is to protect milk from penetration of sunlight;
  • The inner layer of the bag is made of neutral transparent polyethylene without foreign impurities and odors, since this layer comes into contact with the milk.

The advantages of soft containers are:

  • preservation of the taste and beneficial properties of the product due to blocking the penetration of sunlight;
  • protection of milk from dangerous microorganisms thanks to the 3-layer composition of the package;
  • in comparison with other packaging (glass, cardboard), the soft bag is lightweight;
  • product cost. The price of packaging milk in a soft bag is lower than the price of the product in glass, cardboard or plastic containers.

The downside to soft milk cartons is that they are unstable. But to solve this problem today you can use clamps, jugs for bags with the function of opening them, and so on.

The taste and quality characteristics of milk in different containers are no different.

Tetrapack (pure pack)

In order for milk to retain its taste and valuable characteristics for a long period of time, it undergoes ultra-high processing, which consists of rapid heating to 137-140⁰C and rapid cooling to room temperature. Next, the products are poured into bags.

Milk in a tetra pack

Such strong temperature effects on milk do not in any way transform its taste and the amount of vitamins and microelements, but they allow the product to be rid of harmful microorganisms.

To preserve the taste and beneficial properties of milk, manufacturers use tetra-pack packaging, which allows them to preserve products. Tetra Pak milk bags are made in six layers. The packaging is made from sealed layers of polyethylene, which prevents moisture from penetrating inside, maintaining the quality of the product. It is placed in the 1st layer and the last 2 layers. A significant part of the packaging material is high-density cardboard to give shape and rigidity to the milk packaging.

Another advantage of milk in tetra packs is the presence of a thin layer of aluminum foil. It protects against the negative effects of the sun and foreign odors. Due to direct exposure to sunlight, all useful vitamins and microelements in milk disintegrate, which can be determined by the bottle container.

In addition, milk packaging made from tetra-pack is much more compact than glass containers when transporting the product by road. Delivery of large quantities to retail chains will require much fewer flights, which has a positive impact on the environmental situation.

Another feature is that tetrapack can be disposed of by incineration. There is no harm to the surrounding atmosphere.

Labeling and design of milk packaging

The legislation imposes the following requirements for the labeling of packaged milk, outlined in TR CU 005/2011:

  • the packaging requires the presence of an alphabetic or digital code of the raw material from which the container is made and symbols with a pictogram (according to the terms of the technical regulations);
  • advice on using milk from the manufacturer: “After opening, consume within 24 hours”, “shake before opening”, etc.;
  • composition of the product and its calorie content;
  • information on the largest composition of saturated fatty acids, trans isomers of fatty acids and other elements in the composition of fat.

The packaging design is developed by the manufacturer independently. The external design of milk containers is not regulated by law. But in most situations, the packaging is white with the image of a cow, green meadows and other things. Some designers offer customers very unusual forms of milk containers, which can attract the attention of the consumer.

Milk filling line

Currently, the most popular milk bottling lines are:

  • packing milk in tetra packs;
  • bottling the product into plastic bags.

Equipment for filling milk into bags is characterized by lower cost and simple operation, maintenance, and the production of lines is carried out by domestic manufacturers.

Lines for packing milk into bags perform all technological operations: creating a bag, sterilizing the product, sealing the container, printing the expiration date.

Single-line vertical equipment is in demand. Its productivity is up to 25 bags per minute.

Equipment for packaging milk in tetra bags is capable of packaging the product in various types of containers: in the form of briquettes or tetrahedrons.

But compared to other packaging equipment, milk bottling lines into tetra-packs have a high cost (from 400 thousand to 3 million dollars). The production of equipment is mainly carried out by foreign companies (Tetrapak, Elopak). These factors make milk filling machines inaccessible to owners of small and medium-sized enterprises.

On the Russian market today you can find not so expensive domestic analogues of this equipment. One of these is the ORP line. Its productivity is up to 3.5 thousand packages per hour.

Thus, for small companies engaged in the production of milk, packaging the product in a plastic bag would be most acceptable. After all, the quality of the products does not deteriorate at all, the cost of equipment and materials is lower than tetra pack packaging. The only drawback is the shorter shelf life of the product; it needs to be sold in a few days.

They were bottled in glass bottles or paper bags; plastic bags were quite expensive and rare. But the time has come, and the production of plastic has become cheaper and more widespread. We can no longer imagine our lives without cheap plastic. Very often, people leave plastic bags and bottles to store food in them, and milk producers, in order to reduce the cost, prefer to bottle it in plastic bags and plastic bottles. However, the site has found that this can become extremely dangerous to your health.

Milk from polymer containers

Scientists have long proven that plastic is not as harmless as manufacturers make it out to be, and even those who use such products to package products, including milk. However, consumers still most often trust the manufacturer and do not look for additional information. And the picture is quite sad.

Scientists took samples of milk from plastic bags and bottles and conducted a study of it. It turned out that phthalates were found in almost 60% of milk from plastic bags and 40% of milk from bottles. Phthalates and Bisfinol A are potentially hazardous substances that are added to impart shape or strength to a material. However, as the container ages, they are able to migrate into food products.


Scientists have proven that these substances, entering the human body with foods, can increase the level of estrogen, which contributes to the development of prostate, testicular, and breast cancer, reduce brain activity, provoke cardiovascular diseases and delayed brain development in children.

Be carefull!

What to do to avoid such risks? The answer to this is given by toxicology scientists. They urge you to be as vigilant as possible when choosing products in polymer containers.

About ten types of different polymers are used to produce plastic containers for products. Particular attention should be paid to the labeling on the container. It will tell you what the packaging is made of. These are triangles in the form of arrows with a number inside or Latin letters below them.


The most dangerous plastics are polystyrene (PS, or “06”), polyvinyl chloride (PVC, “03”), and other (O, “07”). It is these materials that contain dangerous phthalates and Bisphenol A. Therefore, you should choose packaging marked “BPA-free” or “Does not contain bisphenol A”, “BPA free”. If there are no such marks, then it is better to refuse the product in such packaging, especially for children and pregnant women. If this is not possible, then you should give preference to the product in polypropylene packaging (PP, “05”)

It is worth remembering that the safest for health is PET ("01"). It is from this that containers for mineral water, milk, and soft drinks are made. But we should not forget that the maximum shelf life of such material is 1 year.


It must be remembered that plastic containers are most often NOT intended for reusable food use. It is considered to be conditionally safe. This means that it is safe only if the containers are used strictly for their intended purpose, storage conditions are observed and within the prescribed period, no more. In addition, violation of storage conditions - mechanical damage or failure to comply with thermal conditions - greatly reduces this period.

Therefore, toxicologists recommend completely abandoning the use of plastic utensils and cutting boards at home. And when purchasing products in polymer packaging, do not store it and do not use it in the future. The best thing you can do is throw these containers in a plastic recycling bin.

And remember, your health is in your hands!

What happens to the milk before it is poured into bags? Is it true that milk lasts longer because preservatives are added to it? What are the differences between pasteurized and sterilized milk of different brands? We’ll look into this and much more together with Sergei Perminov, director of research and development at PepsiCo (milk “House in the Village” and “Jolly Milkman”).

Sergey Perminov

Director of Research and Development at PepsiCo

During the first two to three hours, natural enzymes in the milk maintain its quality and it does not sour. This is the so-called bactericidal phase. But industrial companies cannot grasp this moment, because the milk still needs to be delivered to production. Therefore, the first thing that is done with milk after it is taken from the cow is to cool it. In order to preserve beneficial properties. This is done in special heat exchangers-coolers using ice water; milk is cooled from a temperature of 35–36 degrees to 2-6. After this, the milk is sent to the processor, and the sooner it arrives, the better. It is important that it is in transit for no more than a day, but preferably four to six hours - otherwise it may spoil.

As soon as milk enters production, it is checked for indicators of proteins, fats, density, freezing point, grade, whether the cow was sick - large enterprises, as a rule, have their own laboratory.

The next stage is deaeration, that is, removing air from the milk. The fact is that during milking the stream of milk captured air. Air is removed using the vacuum principle: at the moment the milk is downloaded from the machine, it is passed through a special device with low pressure, and under its influence, the air dissolved in the milk is pumped into containers. If the air is not removed, the milk may oxidize and spoil.

Then the milk is separated by grade and loaded into tanks. After this, separation occurs, that is, milk purification: high-speed centrifuges accelerate the milk to remove dead bacteria (live bacteria are more difficult, and they are removed in the following stages) and microbes, and also clean it of mechanical impurities, such as grass and lint.

Afterwards, in order to partially kill or muffle the microflora, the milk is heated to 70 degrees for several minutes.

Normalized and whole milk

Then there are variations. You can separate milk into cream and skim milk. This is done in order to later produce milk of different fat contents, for example 1.5, 3.2 and so on, by combining milk and cream in a certain proportion. Milk separated into cream and skim and then recombined is called normalized milk.

In the case of whole milk, this stage is absent. It is called integral because no separation operations occurred. Whole milk can probably be considered more natural: as it came, so it goes according to physicochemical parameters. Is it healthier, healthier? No. If you make normalized milk correctly, with the same parameters with which it was originally, the result will be the same. So, in my opinion, this is more of a consumer image story.

Pasteurization and sterilization

The last stage - the milk is sent through a pasteurizer or sterilizer for packaging. But before bottling there is another stage of processing - homogenization. In this case, this means grinding in a special device, a homogenizer, into small particles of fat globules, which without processing can stick together or flake off in the form of cream.

The technology of sterilization and pasteurization differs in temperature and duration of exposure. Choose one or the other depending on the desired result. During sterilization, milk is processed at a temperature of 137–140 degrees for several seconds, after which it is packaged. This way it can be stored for up to six months or more.

During pasteurization, the temperature effect is lower and it does not kill spore microflora: milk is processed at a temperature of 78 to 120 degrees from several minutes to half an hour. It is assumed that there are still bacteria in pasteurized milk that can then develop. Accordingly, it is stored less. The temperature regime of UHT milk is higher than pasteurized milk, but lower than sterilized milk.

As for the stories that preservatives or anything else are added to milk, this is a myth. Manufacturers make milk only from milk; nothing can be added to it, and this is prescribed by law.

Differences in milk from different producers

The bottling conditions and equipment (how sterile, modern and high quality it is) and packaging technology are of great importance. These parameters are how milk from different producers differs. In addition, of course, the taste is influenced by the original raw materials, the region of collection and the season.

Packaging is also important. Cardboard bags are a multilayer material, thanks to which oxygen and microorganisms do not penetrate inside the bag; milk is poured using sterile equipment without exposure to the environment, for example in a stream of inert gas. This is called aseptic packaging. This packaging helps preserve good taste and long shelf life.

About fresh milk

As a child, my grandmother gave me milk from the cow, and no one thought to boil it: they washed the udder before milking, and that’s it. But no modern industrial enterprise is capable of separating milk individually from one cow; large-scale production involves the mixing and flow of milk from the cow through pipes, contact not with hands, but with milking machines, the influence of ambient air, and so on. Therefore, no manufacturer can guarantee safety. We do not live in a world of ideal cows - clean and healthy - so I would not recommend taking risks and drinking fresh milk for those who are not sure of its safety.

Illustration: Nastya Grigorieva