Milk types: raw milk, H-milk, skimmed milk and Co.
Milk ? a very special juice
"Milk makes tired men wake up!" This slogan, which has meanwhile been adopted as a winged word, was developed by the West German dairy industry in the 1950s. In a literary form of a tautogram (the word "M" is repeated in every word of the sentence), the message should shape a positive image of milk in post-war and economic miracles. The great success of this promotion campaign resulted in numerous follow-up slogans. The highest degree of fame is probably the sentence from the 1980s "The milk makes it!" have. Crisp, but not very meaningful.
When falling asleep, doctors often recommend a glass of warm milk at bedtime. Nevertheless milk should cheer up? And what exactly does "milk" do?
In recent months, milk has increasingly come to the fore as the alleged cause of various lifestyle diseases. The media ruled split: In part, a vegan campaign against everything "animal" is made responsible. Other sources claim that new studies cite increased milk intake as a concern.
With a per capita consumption of 90.34 kilograms of fresh milk products in Germany (2013) *, it is high time to take a closer look at the bone of contention of this discussion.
Milk on everyone's lips
The term "milk" in German almost exclusively as a synonym for cow's milk used. The human milk from the female breast is explicitly called breast milk designated. For milk of other origin, however, the name of the milk-producing animal must be called, such as goat milk, sheep's milk or buffalo milk.
In all cases, this so-called colloidal dispersion (Solution) as a white, watery and opaque fluid in the mammary glands of female mammals. Its main ingredients are water, milk fat, lactose and proteins. With this nutrient fluid animals suckle their young and breastfeeding mothers their newborns. In addition, the milk of domesticated farm animals is used by humans as a source of food.
Much of the milk produced in livestock is processed into dairies and cheese dairies to other products. This is usually done by a "controlled spoilage", which is triggered by added lactic acid bacteria or rennet. This produces typical milk products, such as butter, cream, quark, yogurt or cheese.
Milk is not the same as milk
The selection of different (cow) milk varieties is great. For the distinction of the different types of milk, however, only two criteria are important: the fat content and the method of preservation. The fat content is divided into:
- whole milk with at least 3,5 % Fat,
- low-fat milk with a fat content between 1.5% and 1.8% and
- skimmed milk with maximum 0,5 % Fat percentage.
Not in the supermarket, but directly from the producer yard, is raw milk with a fat content of up to 5,0 % available. Occasionally also packaged raw milk passes under the name certified milk in the retail trade.
With the exception of raw and preferential milk, all types of milk are preserved for longer by various heating methods. All procedures are based on that of the French chemist Louis Pasteur in 1822 developed technology of pasteurisation, In the following overview the differently preserved milk varieties are briefly presented:
- Pasteurized milk / fresh milk: Heat the milk to 72 to 75 degrees Celsius for 15 to 30 seconds and cool rapidly. Chilled fresh milk is stable for about six to eight days.
- ESL milk: The abbreviation ESL stands for Extended Shelf Life (extended shelf life). The milk is briefly heated to 123 to 127 degrees Celsius and can be kept refrigerated and unopened for up to three weeks. In trade, it is usually marked with a note "extra longer fresh" or similar.
- UHT milk / H milk: Is heated to 135 degrees Celsius for a few seconds. H-milk is unopened at room temperature for up to three months.
The endorsement often found on milk packaging homogenized indicates that the fat globules contained in the milk were crushed by mechanical means. This prevents the so-called "Ausrahmen" and the milk is easier digestible.
Alternatives to milk
For people who for ethical or health reasons (lactose intolerance) do not want to or are not allowed to consume animal milk, various alternative products are on the market. Best known are soy milk, rice milk and Almond milk, For legal reasons, these products may not be offered or advertised with the addition "milk". Here, the complementary term "drink" has established (for example: soy drink).
No milk today?
About the meaningfulness of Pro-Milch slogans (The milk makes it) and the statements made in it can be argued.One thing is certain: the consumption of milk and milk products has been part of our culture for about 10,000 years. This will not change much (controversial) studies on possible health risks. Also, the vegan attempt to represent milk as a fat and disease-causing food, will only trigger a short hype.
Last but not least, to quote the Paracelsus statement, which always applies to reports on foodstuffs and luxury foods: "Only the crowd makes the poison!". Do it like Obelix and drown our worries in goat's milk rather than in Cervisia, right?
* Source: © Statista 2015
