NEW PROCESS OF CANNING FRESH MILK DISCOVERED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 84, 11 January 1950, Page 5

NEW PROCESS OF CANNING FRESH MILK DISCOVERED

In a country like New Zealand that depends so much on its dairy produce for existence it is strange that no attempt has yet been made to can milk in its still liquid form. From the concentrated dairying areas of the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Taranaki there is probably enough milk produced to carry on the present production of butter and cheese and also can milk if such a thing could be. done. Read For Testing

Some countries have experimented with the possibility of canning milk but only with moderate success. The most successful so far is the United States where, according to reports, a new process of canning fresh milk has been discovered without altering its taste and is now ready for commercial testing. According to the New York Times the process is the result of research by Dr Roy Graves, former dairy scientist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Jack Stambaugh, American dairy farmer and implement dealer. The Graves-Stambaugh method of processing milk is said to make it possible for the first time to can fresh milk just as fruit juices or soups now are canned.

By the Graves-Stambaugh method the milk is drawn from the cows under vacuum by milking machines. It flows through stainless steel tubes to a large vat where, still at the cow’s body temperature, it goes into a standard homogenizer. From there it is pumped into a new-type pasteurizer, which consists of two cylinder steam jackets with a spiraled core of stainless steel. Sent At High Speed

The milk is sent through the two cylinders at a high speed and under extreme turbulence at a superpasteurizing temperature of 190 degrees. This stops enzyme action and pasteurizes without burning. From here the milk goes to the canning machine. By using this new method it is said that canned milk kept cold for four months tastes the same as fresh milk.