The effect of flash vacuum cooling on the flavor of ultrapasteurized milk

Ultrapasteurization (UP) extends the shelf life of milk. Direct steam injection (DSI) is commonly used for UP because milk is quickly heated and cooled. During this process, steam is directly injected into milk and removed by a vacuum cooler. Consumers do not prefer the flavor of DSI-UP milk compared with traditional high temperature short time (HTST) milk due to the higher cooked and eggy flavors of DSI-UP milk. The objective of this research was to characterize the effect of the vacuum cooler on the flavor of DSI-UP milk. Raw skim milk was pasteurized at 140°C for 2.3 s by DSI and homogenized at 20.7 MPa. By using a liquid sample port, steam-infused pasteurized milk was sampled after heating but before reaching the vacuum chamber. A septum was installed in the vacuum chamber to allow sampling of the removed volatiles by solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber followed by gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) combined with a sulfur-selective flame photometric detector. Steam-infused milk and vacuum-cooled milk diluted to the same solids contents were evaluated by descriptive sensory analysis and volatile compound analysis. The entire experiment was replicated 3 times. Milks cooled by the vacuum cooler were lower in sweet aromatic, sulfur/eggy, and cooked flavors than milk sampled before the vacuum cooler. Volatile compounds removed by the vacuum cooler included the sweet aromatic flavor contributors furaneol, maltol, furfural, sotolon, 2-heptanone, γ-dodecalactone, γ-decalactone, and δ-decalactone, as well as the cooked and sulfur/eggy contributors hydrogen sulfide and dimethyl sulfide. The vacuum cooler applied during DSI-UP of milk is effective at removing steam and cooling UP milk, but this process may also remove important flavor compounds from fluid milk.