Microbiological and Flavor Evaluation of Fluoridated Milk

Supplementation of milk with fluoride is one method for insuring that infants and children living in areas where water fluoridation is not practical consume adequate amounts of fluoride. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the shelf-life and flavor of fluoride-supplemented milk and to determine the effect of fluoridation on microbial growth. Triangle taste tests were used to determine whether fluoride at 100 ppm could be detected in fresh and 8-d-old milk. These tests employed between 91 and 178 tasters, and indicated that addition of fluoride produced no detectable flavor change. A shelf-life study using three trained judges indicated that pasteurized milk supplemented with 10 ppm fluoride had a shelf-life and off-flavor development similar to that of normal pasteurized milk. Growth of 11 microbial cultures representing a variety of important milk-associated species was not significantly affected by fluoride supplementation.