What actually "dilutes" milk at the factory and how the desired butterfat content is achieved
Among consumers, there is a widespread belief that milk is "diluted" with ordinary water at factories to achieve the desired fat percentage, and that low-fat butter or sour cream can be made cheaper using vegetable or chemical additives. Telegraf.news found out how enterprises actually achieve different fat percentages in their products, by speaking with specialists from Minsk Dairy Plant No. 1.
Photo: MMZ1
What factories "dilute" milk with
To understand how factories produce milk, sour cream, butter, and cottage cheese of varying fat content, one must first understand the very first production stage of milk processing — its in-flow normalization.
This technological process is the foundation of modern dairy production. It allows large volumes of milk to be automatically brought to a specified fat percentage. In fact, no water needs to be added to the milk.
As explained by the chief technologist of Minsk Dairy Plant No. 1 (MMZ1), Larisa Ambrozheichyk, milk in the system is first separated into two fractions — cream and skim milk — using automatic equipment, and then mixed back together in the desired proportions.
"Depending on the fat content we need for the product, a specific fraction of cream is mixed with a fraction of skim milk. And the result is a standard product with the desired fat content. This is all done automatically," the specialist explained the principle of operation of the separator-normalizer.
The process of milk normalization in production can also be carried out by dosing components. In this case, whole milk is not separated in the separator; instead, fatty cream is added to it — if a product with higher fat content is required, or, conversely, skim milk — to reduce the fat content.
This means that in both cases, there is no talk of adding water — the fat percentage is regulated by changing the ratio of the two key components of milk — cream and skim milk.
And how is low-fat butter obtained?
With butter, as explained by the chief technologist of MMZ1, a different method is used, as its production process differs from milk. Butter is produced exclusively from cream, therefore, depending on what kind of butter is needed — with high or low fat content — cream of the appropriate fat content is taken.
At the same time, as with milk, there are two ways to produce butter — by continuous churning and by the method of converting high-fat cream (HFC).
In the first case, as the name suggests, cream of a certain fat content is churned in a special machine — a butter churner — similar to how our grandmothers used to churn butter, but on an industrial scale. The result is butter and buttermilk, which is then removed.
"If we make butter using the HFC method, then our cream of a certain fat content then goes to a separator, where high-fat cream is obtained. There is no buttermilk in this case, because high-fat cream has already been obtained. Then it goes through a butter converter, and as a result, butter is produced," Larisa Ambrozheichyk explained the essence of the second method.
Thus, when it comes to classic butter, without any fillers, no special additives are required in production to reduce (or, conversely, increase) its fat content.
"Essentially, the lower the fat percentage, the higher the moisture content. If 72.5% fat is indicated on the butter packaging, it means that up to 25% moisture is allowed," explained the chief technologist of the dairy plant.
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