September 12, 2006

Dairy plant producing milk with a longer shelf life
 

As competition for consumers stiffens, milk processors are coming up with new ways to cater to changing consumer demands while seeking to offer value-added products at competitive prices.

This has led to the milk factory at Mountainside Farms in Delaware in the north-eastern US using technology to produce ultrapure milk that has an extended shelf life, according to Cyrus Schwartz, president of Mountainside Farms.

Schwartz said the Mountainside Farms factory was taking this measure to survive in a time when most small, privately owned milk plants have been sold and consolidated into big concerns.

Although demand has grown for organic milk, it still comes at a premium price,  Schwartz said. This has given Mountainside an opportunity to use technology developed in Canada to produce milk free of hormones and antibiotics.

The factory obtains raw milk from 120 family-owned farms in nearby counties and requires certifications from all of its dairy farmers to ensure no growth hormones are used.

To be dead-sure, the company also tests all of its milk for the presence of the six antibiotics most commonly used on dairy cows, Schwartz said.

To produce the milk, an advanced, unique bacterial centrifuge and filtration system is used to purify the product, Schwartz said. This enables about 90 to 95 percent of bacteria normally present in the milk to be removed before pasteurization.

Removing the bacteria gives the milk a fresh, clean taste, Schwartz said.

While an unopened container of conventional milk maintains a refrigerator shelf life of eight to 10 days, Mountainside Farms' UltraPure milk can be kept for 16 to 17 days.

Mountainside Farms is part of the Elmhurst Dairy's family of companies that also includes Steuben Foods and Dora's Naturals.