We Soon Might Buy Milk with Shelf Life of 9 Weeks & Other Tech Today

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We Soon Might Buy Milk with Shelf Life of 9 Weeks

The best and time-tested method to extend milk’s shelf life is the process of Pasteurization developed by Louis Pasteur in 1864, i.e. the process of heating milk to kill pathogenic bacteria and other microbial load. But the main reason milk is so hard to work with – is its mere week-long shelf life. But now, scientists have used an innovative method to increase the temperature of milk by 10 degrees Celsius during the pasteurization process – adding increasing the shelf life to more than 9 weeks.

“It’s an add-on to pasteurization, but it can add shelf life of up to five, six or seven weeks to cold milk. With the treatment, you’re taking out almost everything. Whatever does survive is at such a low level that it takes much longer for it to multiply to a point at which it damages the quality of the milk.”

The study was funded by the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Center for Food Safety Engineering at Purdue University and New York-based Millisecond Technologies Corporation, and headed by Bruce Applegate, Purdue associate professor in the Department of Food Science.

“[Pasteurization] has limitations, which include cost effectiveness, high energy input, and reduction of product quality/organoleptic characteristics. In an effort to reduce these limitations and extend shelf-life, this study examined a novel low temperature, short time (LTST) method in which dispersed milk in the form of droplets was treated with low heat/pressure variation over a short treatment time, in conjunction with pasteurization,” reads their study.

Whale Naval Sonar Banned Unless Waters are Mammal-Free

The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has restricted the use of the SURTASS/LFA – a long-range system that emits loud & low-frequency signals in the range of 100Hz to 500Hz (the same range used by marine life as well), unless the waters are mammal-free. Marine animals sometimes mistake the signals for predators – causing a disruption in the natural ecosystem.

Here are details of the ruling from the website - "we have every reason to believe that the Navy has been deliberate and thoughtful in its plans to follow NMFS guidelines and limit unnecessary harassment and harm to marine mammals. The result is that a meaningful proportion of the world's marine mammal habitat is under-protected”