THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE COOLING THE MILK AFTER HARVESTING

Abstract

In this article, notions were presented regarding one of the basic operations of the milk processing process, namely post-harvest cooling. Changes in milk produced by microorganisms do not occur in a short time from milking, due to the presence in its composition of a certain enzyme that inhibits the growth of bacteria, in particular of group A streptococci. The main enzymes possessing bactericidal and bacteriostatic action are lacteins 1,2 and 3. Beneficial action is only exercised in raw milk, in the case of heat-treated milk, the substances responsible for this activity are inactivated, that is why we can say that pasteurized milk is a better development environment for microbes than the raw one. Another important factor, care helps to delay the change of milk contaminated by microorganisms, is the process of cooling or under-cooling it, through which their multiplication is reduced, but also the activity of enzyme bacteria.