Effect of high pressure processing on the safety, shelf life and quality of raw milk

High pressure processing (HPP) was investigated as an alternative to standard raw milk processing. Different pressure levels (400–600 MPa) and exposure times (1–5 min) were tested against artificially inoculated pathogenic E. coli, Salmonella and L. monocytogenes. HPP effectively inactivated bacterial concentration by 5 log CFU/ml. The most effective HPP conditions in terms of pathogen reduction were subsequently utilised to determine the effect of pressure on microbiological shelf life, particle size and colour of milk during refrigerated storage. Results were compared to pasteurised and raw milk. HPP (600 MPa for 3 min) also significantly reduced the total viable counts, Enterobacteriaceae, lactic acid bacteria and Pseudomonas spp. in milk thus prolonging the microbiological shelf life of milk by 1 week compared to pasteurised milk. Particle size distribution curves of raw, pasteurised and HPP milk, showed that raw and HPP milk had more similar casein and fat particle sizes compared to pasteurised milk. The results of this study show the possibility of using HPP to eliminate pathogens present in milk while maintaining key quality characteristics similar to those of raw milk.