OUR INDUSTRY TODAY
Aseptic Packaging of Grade A Dairy Products I
Food Science Department, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48823
Abstract
Some new concepts will probably evolve
from UHT-AP processing and packaging
methods. Future plants will probably be
designed to restrict personnel and supply
traffic in critical processing and filling
areas. There is a good possibility that the
filling area will be at least partially iso-
lated from the rest of the plant. This area
would be constructed to provide more than
normal protection, thus guarding against
product recontamination. Filtered air sup-
plying pressurized rooms for aseptic pack-
aging will undoubtedly be commonplace in
new plant design.
Aseptic packaging machines are being
developed with greater capacities and im-
proved performance, to provide more confi-
dence in achieving aseptic filling.
Dairy farmers supplying milk for UHT
treatment must continue to produce high-
quality raw milk. Raw milk will be evalu-
ated in part on spore count, which will be
included in the criteria for determining
quality. The industry and regulatory agen-
cies should develop labeling uniformity
which would give consideration to terminol-
ogy for UHT-AP products. One industry
leader has cautioned against possible "over-
regulation" in the production and distribu-
tion of UHT-AP products which could
inhibit the full potential benefits from the
method. Some products such as whipping
cream, coffee whiteners, and certain fla-
vored products can be processed by high-
temperature methods. In general, however,
Americans prefer normal pasteurized milk,
because it does not have the cooked flavor
which occurs with the UHT method. Many
observers, nevertheless, believe that UHT-
AP processing and packaging will expand.
As new equipment is developed processors
will likely become increasingly interested in
including UHT-AP methods in the develop-
ment and marketing of new products also.
1 Presented at the Sixty-fourth Annual Meeting
of the American Dairy Science Association, U~i-
versity of Minnesota, Minneapolis, June, 1969.
111
A. L. RIPPEN
Processors of dairy products have shown
increased interest in extending shelf life. l~etail-
ers and consumers also appreciate the benefits
derived from improved keeping quality of per-
ishable food products. A longer shelf life would
probably increase the size of the distribution
area, reduce the delivery frequency, lower retail-
ing costs in stores and vending machines, afford
longer production runs on a given product and
reduce product losses.
Although terminology and labeling of dairy
products given a sterilization treatment and
packaged aseptically has varied, this discussion
refers to the practice of heating a product to
140.6 to 148.9 C (285 to 300 F) for 2.5 to
8.0 seconds. The method includes packaging
the product in a container which has been given
a sterilizing treatment and filled and sealed
under aseptic conditions. Very rapid heating
and cooling is the usual procedure. Packaging
takes place in an atmosphere of steam, sterile
air, or gas. The treatment is sometimes referred
to as "commercial sterilization." Sometimes the
term "long life" is given these products. For
this discussion the terms ultra-high temperature
(UHT) treatment and aspetic packaging (AP)
will be used.
European processors have taken the leader-
ship in the development and adoption of UHT-
AP methods. Italy leads with about 50 plants
in operation in 1968. Germany reports about
12 processing plants and France seven. Eng-
land, Sweden, Russia, Australia, Japan, and
a few others also have UHT-AP processing
operations. It is estimated that the United
States has aproximately 70 plants using this
method for dairy products. Most of the plants
in the United States package in metal contain-
ers utilizing the Dole system. The majority of
the foreign operations use the laminated paper
container to reduce cost. Tetra Pak equipment
has been employed to the largest extent in the
European operations. However, the United
States has made considerable progress in the
development and acceptance of a semirigid
paperboard plastic foil carton.
Tolerable Spoilage
Researchers and processors studying UHT-
112 J O U R N A L OF D A I R Y S C I E N C E
A P operations for several years have attempted
to develop acceptable guidelines for tolerable
spoilage. Workers at the National Institute for
Research in Dairying at Reading, England (2)
have suggested that the spoilage of one carton
in 1,000 when held at room temperature two to
three weeks would be acceptable. Because of
the extremely low bacteria counts normally prev-
alent it is somewhat difficult to establish tol-
erable standards. In actual practice variable
results may occur from day to day relative to
shelf life until effective operating procedures
are established. There are few published data
on spoilage for U H T - A P dairy products. Cor-
respondence from Australia indicates that prod-
ucts from commercial operations will usually
have unsatisfactory flavor after three months.
Reports from Switzerland indicate that uperized
milk heated to 150 C (302 F ) for 2.4 seconds
has a shelf life of about three months in foil
cartons and about six months in metal cans.
They also report somewhat longer shelf life
in aluminum containers than in other types of
metal cans. The experience of one plant in
Switzerland indicates that two to three weeks
of shelf life can be obtained in plain plastic-
coated paperboard cartons.
A report from Italy indicates that uperized
milk packaged in double plastic aluminum foil
Tetra Pak containers had a shelf life of 30 days
when held at temperatures ranging from 20 to
55 C (68 to 131 F ) . F o u r samples out of 1,228
were spoiled after one month of storage. The
Danish Research Institute (6) has done exten-
sive studies on the keeping quality of U H T -
treated milk packaged aseptically in various
types of packaging materials using a Tetra Pak
machine. Out of 290,000 cartons filled, 15,000
were sampled and 180 of the samples were found
to be nonsterile or visibly defective following a
short period of storage. Two different sterilizers
were used for processing the products. During
some of the test trials malfunctioning of the
equipment was observed, making it difficult to
ascertain the source of contamination.
Others have also indicated difficulties in iso-
lating the source of contamination of U H T -
treated products. Inconsistency may occur in
making test runs from one day to the next with
commercial-size equipment operating for short
periods. Hedriek (3) suggests sampling once
every hour during the processing and filling
operation. This procedure would not only pro-
vide information regarding the source of con-
tamination but also variations during produc-
tion.
I n placing the U H T - A P system on stream
in a commercial operation adequate test trials
JOURI~AI, OF DAIRY SCIEI~CE VOL. 53, NO. 1
should be made to ensure that the equipment
is functioning correctly. Distribution practices
should be similar to those of products given
usual pasteurization, at least during the intro-
ductory period. Samples should be retained
in adequate numbers to provide guidelines on
equipment performance. On certain occasions
the product could be held for aproximately ten
days before shipping to make certain that ade-
quate sterility has been achieved.
The temperature drop test as suggested by
Ashton (1) may be conducted to determine
the minimum heat treatment necessary to achieve
sterility. This test may be useful in the early
stages of placing a U t t T system in operation.
H e suggests operating the unit at 143.3 to
148.9 C (290 to 300 F ) initially and dropping
the temperature in five-degree decrements to
126.7 C (260 F ) . A t each temperature, collect
250 samples, incubate 125 of them at 22 C
(71.6 F ) and the other half at 37 C (98.6 F ) .
Examine the samples held at 37 C daily for
ten days and every day for 15 days for those
held at 22 C. Spoilage indicates the minimum
processing temperature, and a safety margin
of 2.8 C (5 F ) should be added. Agreement is
needed on three series of test trials with tests
repeated every three months. Hedrick (3)
found that incubating samples at 31.7 C (89 F )
was the most critical of the temperatures used,
including 21.1, 31.7, 35, and 45 C (70, 89, 95,
and 113 F ) .
The need for incubating samples to determine
shelf life was also emphasized by Speck and
Busta (7). They reported that determining bac-
teria counts using the plate method was too
cumbersome unless the samples were incubated.
Techniques used in determining bacteria counts
on U H T - A P - t r e a t e d products are very impor-
tant. I t is suggested that a clean laboratory
bench flooded with sterile filtered air be avail-
able for the technician.
Keeping an accurate set of records is ex-
tremely important for U H T - A P operations.
Equipment perfornmnce data, time, tempera-
ture charts, and sampling information are useful
in evaluating defects in a given production run
at a later time.
Quality of Raw M|ik
A dairy farmer supplying milk to a processor
utilizing U t t T - A P methods likely would not
experience any relaxation imposed on him rel-
ative to maintaining sanitation and quality
standards. The spore count becomes more im-
portant in evaluating raw milk quality for this
type plant. Since heat-resistant spores are most
difficult to kill, their presence in high numbers
 OUR INDUSTRY TODAY
would be significant. Because temperature in-
fluences spore germination, storing U H T - A P
products at refrigerated temperatures is rec-
ommended for extending keeping quality, in-
cluding the preservation of desirable physical
characteristics and flavor stability.
Studies using the Bactofuge 2 for spore re-
moval before U H T treatment showed no signifi-
cant effect when processing high-quality raw
milk. Perhaps with very poor quality raw milk,
containing a high spore count, some significant
improvement would be detectable when utilizing
the Bactofuge before the U H T treatment.
Aseptic Packages and Equi,pment
The choice of a package for packaging U H T -
A P Grade A dairy products would depend on
several factors including cost, sales appeal, con-
sumer acceptance, weight, space required, shape,
protection against contamination, product char-
acteristics, need for returnable cases, etc. I f a
processor expands his marketing area over many
states, it would be advantageous to use a one-
way overwrap or nonreturnable case for the
packages. Containers shipped in nonreturn-
able cases would have a major advantage in
distribution costs. Most processors shipping
great distances place packages in nonreturnable
corrugated cardboard or some type of over-
wrap. Choices available to the processor for
aseptic packaging operations include metal cans,
glass containers, semirigid plastic p a p e r foil
containers, flexible plastic containers, plastic
form-fill-seal containers, and blow-molded plas-
tic bottles. Metal cans filled by the Dole process
are the most eomumn in use in the United States.
This equipment has proven satisfactory in com-
mercial production for several products. Super-
heated steam is the sterilizing agent for the can.
Filling occurs in a steam chamber at atmo-
spheric pressure which maintains the sterile
environment.
Considerable work has been done at the Na-
tional Institute of Research for Dairying in
England on filling glass containers aseptically.
Some new and improved models of glass fillers
were displayed at the European Dairy Show in
June, ]969.
Form-fill-seal equipment has been modified
and will probably be used more in the dairy and
food industry. Acceptability has been demon-
strated on smaller-size eontainers such as
creamers. Current models form-fill and seal
nine or 16 creamers p e r cycle. Typical of all
aseptic units, the machine is carefully shrouded
2 Centrifugal machine designed to remove micro-
organisms from milk.
113
to avoid contamination of the thermoplastic
container during forming, flling, and sealing.
F o r economic and other reasons considerable
emphasis has been placed on the development
of laminates of paperboard, plastic, and alumi-
num foil. This material is being formed in
rectangular as well as in the more common
tetrahedron shape. European-made equipment
generally utilizes a large roll of the laminate,
which is formed into a tube and filled without
entrapping air and sealed with heated jaws.
Packages known as Tetra Brik and Self Pack
are formed into rectangular shapes. I t has been
demonstrated that the rectangular packages
may be accumulated and enclosed with an over-
wrap permitting storage to as high as five
layers.
The typical 5-ply laminate material of a
seiairigid plastic foil container from the interior
surface outward would be polyethylene, alumi-
num foil, polyethylene, paperboard, and poly-
ethylene. The Pure P a k carton is available with
the cut edge sealed to better control vapor trans-
mission. Injecting ethylene oxide gas into the
p a p e r shipping carton at a concentration of
about 320 ppm helps ensure virtually sterile
carton blanks to the user. The ethylene oxide
gradually dissipates during shipment or storage
over a period of one week to about 1 ppm.
Various chemicals have been used to sanitize
the product contact surface of the container.
Chlorine has been used; however, hydrogen
peroxide seems to be the favored sanitizer at
the present time. Hydrogen peroxide is con-
verted to water and oxygen, resulting in an
effective sanitizer. During operation the pack-
age material is drawn through a hydrogen per-
oxide bath at 80 C (176 F ) or the sanitizer may
be sprayed or fogged on the critical surfaces.
The package material is exposed to tempera-
tures of approximately 232.2 to 315.6 C (450 to
600 F ) , which achieves the sterilizing effect and
dissipates any hydrogen peroxide present. The
Pure Pak machine employs a fogging system to
inject hydrogen peroxide into the carton at a
rate of approximately 0.1 to 0.2 ml p e r quart
carton. Excess hydrogen peroxide is conducted
from the machine with an expeller fan for oper-
ator comfort.
Attempting to convert most regular fillers
in the United States to aseptic units in the field
is generally not recommended.
Blow-Mold Plastic Bottles
I n Germany, a unique method of blow mold-
ing plastic containers and filling them aseptically
while still in the mold has been developed. Rela-
JOVRNAI, OF DAI~Y SCIENCE VOL. 53, NO. 1
114 J O U R N A L OF D A I R Y
tively low capacity machines are now available
in the United States, with larger machines
being designed. Because the plastic material
must be heated to about 232.2 C (450 F ) for
blow molding, it is sterilized, an inherent advan-
tage of the unit. Maintaining a sterile environ-
ment around the filling nozzle to avoid con-
tamination during filling and top sealing of the
blow-molded container is obviously still neces-
sary. Some of the blow-mold aseptic units are
being tested in the United States. The capacity
of the unit depends, in part, upon the size of
the container and the number of blow-mold
heads on the machine. Quart-size packages nor-
really can be formed at a rate of six or seven
p e r minute. A blow-mold machine has also been
developed in Switzerland.
Sanitation
Most of the present models of aseptic fillers
cannot be completely cleaned in place. Gener-
ally, some dismantling is necessary and parts are
cleaned in a wash vat. One of the nmnufactur-
ers of form-fill, seal equipment suggests an inter-
esting method of assembling the critical filler
parts to ensure sterility. The procedure basi-
cally is as follows:
1. Before assembling, place the parts in boil-
ing water for 10 minutes.
2. W e a r plastic gloves when handling the
parts. Rinse the filler bowl with 100 p p m
of chlorine, flood with hot water, and again
rinse with 100 p p m chlorine solution.
3. Steam the unit at 5 to 6 psi so the tem-
perature reaches at least 104.4 C (220 F ) ,
and maintain until sterility is achieved.
A p p l y i n g heat usually as steam is the most
common method for sterilizing lines, vessels,
and filling equipment. Gaskets and other parts
must have the ability to withstand sterilizing
temperatures. Silicone is one of the materials
found to be satisfactory. Thermocouples are
useful for indicating the temperature of the
shrouding or block surrounding the filling cham-
bers. It is important to observe the maximum
temperature reached during sterilizing proce-
dures so that corrections can be made if neces-
sary.
Most aseptic fillers are designed to control
the filling environment around the package, pro-
viding effective protection against contaminating
microorganisms. The systems employ sterilized
air, obtained either by heating or with high-
efficiency filters. The area around the carton
is given the most protection; however, in some
operations the entire filling room is provided
JOURNAL OF DAIRY SCIENCE VOL. 53, NO. 1
SCIENCE
with carefully filtered air which results in the
so-called "clean room."
Costs
Costs involved in sterilizing and aseptic pack-
aging utilizing the Pure Pak carton were stud-
ied by H o r a n and I-Iedrick (5). Estimated
processing and sterilization costs for milk before
packaging amounted to 0.76 cent per quart.
Labor, utilities, depreciation, taxes, interest, and
miscellaneous costs were included. The aseptic
packaging cost was 3.71 cents, resulting in a
total plant charge of 4.47 cents p e r quart. W i t h
raw milk valued at $6.25 p e r hundredweight and
3.15 cents per quart estimated for delivery re-
sults in a total of 21.02 cents per quart. The
package itself is about twice that of a standard
plastic paperboard container because of the
incorporation of aluminum foil and an addi-
tional layer of polyethylene.
Distribution
The quality of U H T - A P products is extended
by refrigeration temperatures. Studies con-
ducted by Herreid (4) indicate that U H T milk
treated at 146.1 to 148.9 C (295 to 300 F ) had
a flavor score immediately after processing of
about 37.5 to 38. This milk when held at 4.4 C
(40 F ) for one week had a score of 39, whereas
when held at 21.1 C (70 F ) the score dropped
to 37 and declined to 36 when held at 37.8 C
(100 F ) . The development of other defects
related to the physical characteristics of the
product is also affected by temperature. Higher
temperatures during distribution and storage
accelerate deterioration, e.g., the formation of
a fat layer on the product, discoloration, and
gelation. Handling practices similar to those
used for normal pasteurized products are sug-
gested for U H T - A P products. Refrigeration
should be used at the processing plant, in mar-
keting channels, and in the home. The advan-
tages of U H T - A P are that the product has the
keeping quality to withstand more heat shock,
permitting the processor to distribute over a
wider area and with fewer returned products.
References
(1) Ashton, T. R. 1966. Control methods applied
to aseptic milk production. Dairy Industry,
31: 6.
(2) Burton, H. 1965. Ultra high temperature
processing and aseptic packaging in the
dairy industry--Its basic principles and
developments. J. Soc. Dairy Technol., 18: 2.
 OUR INDUSTRY
(3) Hedrick, T. I. 1969. Personal communica-
tion. Michigan State University, East Lan-
sing.
(4) Herreid, E. O. 1965. New facts concerning
the physical, chemical and storage stability
of sterilized milk and cream. Proc. Milk
Ind. Found. 58th Ann. Meet., Montreal,
Canada.
(5) Horan, J., and T. I. Hedrick. 1968. Costs
ASSOCIATION
Reappointment of Editorial Board Members
The new policy of Journal Management
changed appointments of the Editorial Board
membership to a 3-year term with one re-
newal for a maximum additional 3 years, if
the Journal Management Committee and the
individual both agree. The following have
willingly agreed to a reappointment:
Dr. C. C. Baleh, NIRD, England
Dr. R, E. Brown, Univ. of Illinois
Dr. J. R. Brunner, MSU, Michigan
Dr. Olaf Claesson, IHUOV, Sweden
Dr. G. Loftus Hills, CSIRO, Australia
Dr. 0. W. K a u f m a n n , NCUIH, Ohio
Dr. F. A. Kummerow, Univ. of Illinois
Dr. W. A. MeGillivray, DRI, New Zealand
Dr. T. A. J. Payens, NIZO, Netherlands
Dr. E. W. Swanson, Univ. of Tennessee
Dr. T. Tsugo, Univ. of Tokyo, J a p a n
TODAY 115
of milk sterilization and aseptic packaging
in paper cartons. Amer. Dairy Rev., 30: 7.
(6) Mann, E. J. 1969. Aseptic packaging of
milk and milk products. Dairy Industry,
34: 1.
(7) Speck, M. L., and F. F. Busta. 1968. Steri-
lization and aseptic packaging of milk
products--microbiologlcal trends. J. Dairy
Sci., 51 : 1146.
AFFAIRS
The Editors of the Journal of Dairy Science
and other members of the Journal Manage-
ment Committee are sincerely grateful for the
excellent review service these individuals have
performed. Each of these men has given ex-
cellent service on the Editorial Board for at
least five years and has consented to serve
for another term of 1 to 3 years. Their re-
views have contributed to the internationally
recognized quality of the Journal of Dairy
Science publications. ADSA members are en-
couraged to personally express appreciation
for the dedicated assistance of these Board
members.
T. I. Hedriek, Ghairman
Journal Management Committee
JOURNAL OF DAIRY SCI~NCB ~rOL. 53, NO. 1