I was in the middle of making dinner when this happened. I’m grateful I poured it into a measuring cup first. Thankfully I don’t live too far from another source.
I remember milk staying good almost a week past its expiration date when I was a kid. Boy have the times changed.
Not necessarily true. As soon as your crack the seal on pasteurized milk, the Bacillus cereus spores start to germinate even if cold. There is a strain that thrives at fridge temps and within a few days the milk is now full of cereulide toxins. Badtimes at the hospital.
UHT milk would kill the spores though at the factory so it’s safer to keep longer.
Isn’t UHT ultra high temperature? isn’t that the same as pasteurization?
Pasteurization is only about 75°C for about half a minute. This kills any living bacteria in food. That’s why milk packing has warning on how to store it and how to use it. But if the pack is labeled UHT you have more leeway. UHT is high pressure and temp to get up to 130 to 150°C but for only about 3 to 5 seconds. This kills bacteria spores which can survive boiling at 100°C. Yes really. Like the above bacteria mentioned, only UHT can kill the spores. It evolved so that once the temp and moisture is right the spores breakout like Alien from the egg and start multiplying bacteria immediately, within hours.
Note that heat cannot deactive the bacteria shit aka toxins. So even though the bacteria colony can be dead when u recook spoilt food, the toxins will still kill you.
Neat, thanks for the explainer ! I had incorrectly assumed pasteurization was done at the boiling point of water… Cheers