You may not have realized that Europeans actually buy and store their milk outside of the fridge. The reason is a simple one: Europeans rely on a completely different pasteurization method. Canadian and American milk manufacturers utilize high-temperature, short-time pasteurization.
Turns out, the major difference lies in the method by which milk is processed. Almost all milk is pasteurized, meaning it undergoes extreme heat in order to kill illness-causing bacteria. The U.S. and Canada use a pasteurizing technique called high-temperature short-time pasteurization, or HTST.
Pasteurized and raw milk DO need to be refrigerated, or at least kept cold, in Europe as everywhere else. UHT milk does not, and it accounts for LOT of the milk sold here.
In Europe and other parts of the world, another technique called ultra-heat-treated pasteurization, or UHT, is used. Milk is exposed to higher temperatures of 284°F for three seconds, decimating virtually all the bacteria and making it shelf-stable for about six months if left unopened.
Most of the milk consumed in France, Belgium, and Spain, for example, is UHT, or ultra-high temperature milk. This means it doesn't need to be refrigerated. But in the United States, pasteurized milk must be refrigerated, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.
While American milk is pasteurized too – to keep for a few weeks – in France, it's “ultra-high temperature” (UHT) pasteurized, heated to 275 degrees as opposed to the 60 to 100 to which American milk is. The resulting shelf-stable milk, which makes up 95.5 percent of all milk consumed in France, has a (frightening?)
“Milk is pasteurized through a process called ultra high temperature (UHT) in Europe, which kills the bacteria and can lead to a longer shelf life product without refrigeration,” explains Natalie Alibrandi, a UK-based food scientist and CEO of Nali Consulting.
Long-life milk is heated to 140°C for two seconds and then packaged aseptically. The increased temperature at which long-life milk is treated results in a greater reduction in bacteria and heat-resistant enzymes in comparison to milk that undergoes regular pasteurisation – giving it an extended shelf life.
You may not have realized that Europeans actually buy and store their milk outside of the fridge. The reason is a simple one: Europeans rely on a completely different pasteurization method. Canadian and American milk manufacturers utilize high-temperature, short-time pasteurization.
In most European countries, Salmonella is kept under control with preventative measures like vaccination. Farms are usually not allowed to wash eggs, so the cuticles remain intact, precluding refrigeration.
The different taste probably comes from the way milk is processed (pasteurized and homogenized) in the different countries, the amount of fat we are accustomed to and that is added or taken away for full fat or skimmed milk. This is different in most countries.
UHT milk in France is marked as keeping for three months unopened, although it is actually usable for six to nine months. The process kills all the micro-organisms in the milk and deactivates most of the enzymes present, which slightly changes the taste.
For the most part however it seems to be down to preference and tradition. France after all isn't the only country on the continent to choose long-life milk over fresh. Belgium and Spain favour UHT overwhelmingly whereas in Greece and Finland it accounts for just one and two percent of milk sales respectively.
The Dairy Section
One of the biggest surprises in a French supermarket is that the milk is often stacked on the shelves rather than in the refrigerator. Most French milk is pasteurised and therefore has a much longer shelf life than many of us Anglo-Saxons are used to.
So there you have it: the French have no need for refrigerator-dependent dairy products, because their UHT-processed milk will still be fresh at least six months after the apocalypse. It is, unlike their milk, chilling.
China is not just a land of milk and honey for dairy producers since there are several factors hindering the development of China's dairy market. First, Asian people are genetically predisposed to lactase-deficiency: around 92% of adults suffer from lactose intolerance in China.
Just 5,000 years ago, even though it was a part of their diet, virtually no adult humans could properly digest milk. But in the blink of an evolutionary eye northern Europeans began inheriting a genetic mutation that enabled them to do so.
"While heating [shelf-stable milk] to high temperatures through the sterilization process can deplete some nutrients, it doesn't affect key nutrients such as protein or calcium, and is usually fortified back with many nutrients that it may have lost, including vitamins A and D," says Moskovitz.
With that in mind, to maximise freshness and to ensure the long-life, make sure to store milk in the fridge as soon as you've bought it. You'll want to check that the temperature setting in your fridge is correct too – 1-4 degrees Celsius is just right, not too cold and not too warm.
In general, perishable foods like milk should not sit out of the refrigerator or cooler for longer than two hours. Cut that time down to an hour in the summer if the temperature reaches 90 degrees F. After that time frame, bacteria can start to grow.
The process for shelf-stable milk is called UHT pasteurization, or Ultra High Temperature. Milk is heated to a very high temperature for just a few seconds, which destroys bacteria for a longer shelf life.
However, in many European nations, UHT milk is the norm. This milk is heated to double the temperature – 140C – for a mere three seconds. The high heat does its work almost instantly, killing all bacteria and most of the bacterial spores that can stand up to lesser temperatures.
Lactose intolerance
Many individuals lack the proper digestive enzymes—known as lactase—that would help them process cow's milk, making them lactose intolerant. Many studies have found links between milk consumption and increased risks of ovarian cancer.
Most people will still put them in the fridge at home, but because in Germany and most of Europe eggs are not washed and sterilized, unlike in the US and Canada, whereby the protective layer on the outside can be damaged, eggs don't HAVE to be refrigerated so the store sells them on the shelf.
Why is milk not refrigerated in South America? It's all in the process. Milk in Costa Rica, Central and South America, like in Europe, uses ultra-high-temperature or ultra-heat-treated pasteurization (UHT), which heats the milk to an even higher temperature than HTST used in North America.