Every customer hopes to buy high-quality milk without additives in the store. Then you can count on the fact that this tasty and healthy product will not cause harm. It’s no secret that some manufacturers add antibiotics, palm oil, and acetylsalicylic acid to it, which, of course, is undesirable. Starch, soda, and chalk are not so dangerous to health, but their presence means that the manufacturer has something to hide. Are there ways to check the naturalness of the products of such unscrupulous companies at home?

What should you pay attention to when purchasing?

First of all, look at the release date. The fresher the milk, the better. Of course, this does not guarantee that it is natural and without any additives, but it is still a little reassuring. If the first box or bottle you come across has a stale date, you can try to find a newer one by looking further away on the shelf. After all, most often, products that arrived a long time ago are placed closer to the shelves so that not particularly picky customers have time to sort them out before the expiration date expires. And of course, you shouldn’t take milk in a package whose integrity is damaged.

If the milk is in a transparent bottle, you can first assess the quality by appearance. A good product is white with a slightly yellowish tint, while a diluted product or with additives is bluish. High-quality milk will have cream on top, and with a gentle shake you can tell whether it is made from whole or powdered milk. In the second case, small grains will remain on the walls.

Heavily diluted milk with added palm oil will leave a uniform film on the walls. But its presence can be completely eliminated only in the laboratory.

First quality check without chemicals

It is easy to determine whether milk has soured or is too diluted without the use of chemical methods. You can just smell it. A sour smell will indicate a stale product. You can taste it. Anything sour will also taste sour. Dip a toothpick in milk and drop it on your nail. If the drop has not spread, it is fresh and undiluted.

Pour some milk into a saucepan and put on fire. Stale milk will curdle. If the product is of high quality, then when it cools, a thin film forms on it. A heavily diluted solution will remain “bald” without foam. You can also find out if starch has been added. Unscrupulous manufacturers do this to make milk diluted with water thicker in consistency. As it cools, it will become even thicker than it was before heating.

There is a reliable way to determine whether milk has been diluted, and even more or less accurately determine how much water was added to it. Dip a thin stick into it and drop it onto a paper napkin. The wider the wet rim around the drop, the more water added. At the same time, the drying time of this border also depends on the degree of dilution. For a heavily diluted product it dries quickly, for a whole product it dries much longer.

• If the milk is undiluted, then the drop will not spread, and around it on the paper there will be a very thin border no more than two millimeters wide, and it will dry only after 2 hours.
• If the rim is wider and dries in an hour, then there is approximately 10% excess water.
• This ring around the drop will dry only after half an hour if the milk was diluted by 30%.
• If it is diluted with water in half, then the drying process will not take more than 15-20 minutes.

To distinguish diluted milk from whole milk, you can pour it in a thin stream into warm water. A high-quality one will float up in the form of a white clot, and a highly diluted one will quickly mix with water.

If there is a cat at home, you can offer it to her first. She will turn away from low-quality milk, but you won’t be able to pull her away by the ears from good milk. However, this method is not very reliable. There may be a picky cat. Or maybe the manufacturer will be so cunning that he will be able to deceive a cat’s delicate sense of smell.

Well, that’s probably all we can do without turning to chemical methods for help.

The simplest experiments

Soda

Pour 50-100 g of milk into a glass and add a quarter teaspoon of soda. If it begins to sour, bubbles will appear on the surface.

Vinegar

With the help of vinegar, it is easy to recognize the addition of soda or chalk. Unscrupulous manufacturers add soda to prevent milk from turning sour longer. Such an additive can be harmful to the stomach and spoil the taste of the product. Chalk is added to hide the fact that the milk has been heavily diluted. With this additive they are trying to return it to its “natural” color. If chalk or soda is present in milk, then adding vinegar will cause it to “boil.” Bubbles will float to the surface. If there are a lot of bubbles, then a lot of soda or chalk is added too.

Iodine

This reagent is present in almost every home medicine cabinet. It can be useful if we want to find out if milk contains starch. It may appear there if the manufacturer is trying to hide the fact that the product was heavily diluted before sale. Starch gives highly diluted milk its thick consistency. You can expose such a fraudster with the help of iodine.

Take some milk, pour it into a transparent glass and drop literally 2-3 drops of iodine into it. Shake. If there is a large amount of starch in the product, the milk will turn blue, and if a little is added, a bluish tint will appear. If there is no such additive, the milk will turn yellowish.

Alcohol

Of course, not every home can find medical alcohol, but in extreme cases, you can replace it with high-quality vodka. Using them, you can find out exactly whether water has been added, and if so, then approximately estimate the degree of dilution.

Pour 50 g of milk into a container and add 100 g of alcohol to it. Shake for a minute or two and then pour the contents into a clear cup.

If the milk was whole, then after 7 seconds casein flakes can be detected in it. If such flakes begin to be released late, then it has been diluted. Based on the time the casein appears, it is easy to estimate how much water was added. If about a minute passes, then the product contains 20% extraneous water, a delay of half an hour indicates the addition of 40% water, and if the milk is half diluted with water, then the process of flakes falling out will be delayed by 40 minutes or more.

The method is applicable only to cow's milk, since goat's milk does not contain casein.

Litmus paper

It can be found in pet stores. It is used to determine the acidity of water in aquariums. But even in our case, it can be very useful, for example, in order to detect the presence of acetylsalicylic acid or soda in a product. Both of these extraneous ingredients are added to the milk so that it does not sour longer. If there is soda in it, then the litmus paper will turn blue, and if it turns red, then one of two things: either aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) has been added, or the product has already begun to sour. In normal milk, the color of the paper will not change.

Instead of litmus paper, you can use universal indicator paper, if you can find one. It can be used to evaluate the acidity or alkalinity of a product more specifically. The more soda added, the greater the alkalinity and the bluer the paper will become when dipped in milk, and the greater the acidity, the redder the paper will become. This means that either aspirin, boric acid, or acid-based bleaches were added to it.

Presence of antibiotics

Antibiotics can appear in milk for several reasons. They can be added specifically to slow down the activity of lactic acid bacteria and thereby prevent souring. They may also be present if the cow has recently been treated with antibiotics. You understand that milk from a sick cow is of little use, and sometimes such a product can be downright dangerous.

Determining their presence requires sophisticated laboratory tests. But, fortunately, there is a completely affordable way. You just need to pour a little milk and put it in a warm place with a temperature of at least 23-25°C. If after a day it does not have time to sour, then you have every reason to suspect the presence of antibiotics in it. Of course, if you find out about this a day later, it’s unlikely that anything will be fixed. But at least next time you will think hard about whether it’s worth buying the products of this manufacturer again.

To learn how to easily check the quality of milk at home, watch the following video.

The naturalness and freshness of milk is a problem not only for those who like to drink it fresh. A high-quality drink is a necessary condition for independently preparing healthy fermented milk products: yogurt, curdled milk, cottage cheese, and so on. There are several effective ways to check the quality of milk at home.

Quality requirements: what should a natural product be like?

GOST establishes the following conditions for the naturalness of milk:

• after milking;
• without extraction;
• without added dairy or non-dairy ingredients;
• cleared of mechanical impurities;
• cooled to 4°C.

Milk that meets all of the above parameters is called whole milk. Today it is most easily found at the farmers market or purchased directly from the owners of dairy cows or goats. Nevertheless, you should not think that only unnatural milk is sold in the store. It is possible to find a high-quality product, but manufacturers, before releasing the product into retail chains, first normalize it - bring it to a single standard of fat content by adding whole milk or cream to skim milk.

Determining the freshness of milk

The shelf life of homemade and factory milk differs. A sour product is easily recognized by its sharp sour smell. If it is not there, but there are suspicions that the milk is stale, you can confirm or refute the guesses with very simple actions.

A method for the brave

For those who are not too squeamish about unpleasant tastes, just try a little milk. A sour taste indicates that it is not fresh.

Boiling liquid

A small amount of milk can be poured into a saucepan and brought to a boil. Did the liquid curdle when it boiled? This means the product has gone sour.

Detecting a sour drink with soda

Sour milk releases acid, and soda reacts to it. Add half a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate to 100 ml of drink. Has the liquid foamed or bubbled? This product is not worth drinking.

Checking the naturalness of the composition

Non-dairy additives in milk are an unfortunate reality of today's dairy market. The pursuit of profit does not imply concern for the health of the consumer. This state of affairs literally forces the buyer to acquire minimal skills in independently determining product quality.

Modern supplements are very diverse. Their main purpose is to preserve the freshness of the product for as long as possible, increase volume, and add more fat content. At home, it is not difficult to identify a gross fake, although some methods will require chemical reagents, which can be purchased in specialized stores and pharmacies.

Is the milk diluted?

The most common trick designed to increase milk volume is diluting it with water. Simple manipulations will help you understand whether the product is diluted or not.

We use vodka or alcohol

You will need:

• alcohol or high-quality vodka;
• saucer.

Mix two parts alcohol (vodka) with one part milk. Shake well for 1 minute. Then quickly pour the “cocktail” onto a saucer. Wait a little - 5–6 seconds. If during this period flakes have formed in the liquid, then there is no water in the milk. Slower separation of the alcohol-milk mixture indicates that the manufacturer has added water to the product. Depending on the time, the approximate percentage of dilution is established:

• 1 minute - 20% water;
• 15–35 minutes - 40% water;
• 40 and more - 50% water;

The method is not suitable for testing goat milk, since it does not contain casein - it is this protein that coagulates during the experiment under the influence of alcohol.

We use the “milk drop” method

You will need:

• paper napkin;
• match.

Dip a match into well-mixed milk, take it out and place the resulting drop on a napkin. The drying speed of the wet circle formed around the milk drop will tell you whether the liquid is diluted or not:

• whole milk - the diameter of the stain is almost the same as a drop and takes more than 2 hours to dry;
• 10% water - a wet circle dries in 1 hour;
• 30% water - the wet border is wide and dries within 30 minutes;
• 50% water - the drop does not hold a convex shape, dries quickly (no longer than 20 minutes).

Testing with warm water

You will need:

• cup;
• warm water.

Pour milk in a thin stream into a glass of warm water. The undiluted product will not immediately mix with the liquid, but will rise to the top. Diluted milk will dissolve easily in warm water.

Is there starch in the liquid?

Unscrupulous milkmen thicken skim milk with starch, thereby passing it off as fatter.

You will need:

• tablespoon.

Add a couple of drops of iodine to a tablespoon of milk. The starch present in the product will cause a reaction - the liquid will turn blue. If the color of the milk turns yellowish, there is no starch in it.

Did the manufacturer add chalk, gypsum or soda?

Some businessmen use soda to protect themselves against the rapid souring of the healthy drink.

You will need:

Acid method. Fill the glass halfway with milk, then add half a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice. Hissing and bubbles indicate the presence of chalk, plaster or soda.

Dye method. Pour a small amount of milk into the test tube, then carefully, without shaking the container with liquid, add 7-8 drops of the indicator along the wall. If soda is present in a dairy product, the liquid will turn dark green.

Are there any antibiotics in the product?

Antibacterial drugs prevent the growth of pathogenic microorganisms, which increases the shelf life of dairy products. You can determine whether an antibiotic has been added to milk by fermenting it. Add a teaspoon of sour cream or kefir to a glass of drink and leave at room temperature for a day. By the end of the mentioned period, the natural product will turn into curdled milk. If the milk does not react to the starter, the development of lactic acid bacteria is inhibited by antibiotics.

Does the drink contain aspirin or boric acid?

Aspirin in milk is a scam to prolong the freshness of the product, which poses a serious threat to the health of a person with aspirin intolerance. Additives in the form of salicylic, acetylsalicylic and boric acid are easily detected by litmus paper. The color of the indicator after dipping in milk with the listed components changes to red.

How to detect palm oil?

Palm oil improves the taste of the reconstituted drink and also increases shelf life. But no matter how many ways to detect vegetable fat in milk using improvised means are floating around on the Internet, it is only possible to identify this component in laboratory conditions using gas chromatography. Therefore, it is more effective to protect yourself from an unnatural product by carefully studying the labeling, being critical of low prices, and no less carefully choosing a reliable manufacturer.

Establishment of fat content and acidity

The fat content of milk purchased in bulk or in standard packaging is easy to determine yourself. For this, in addition to milk, you will need:

• ruler;
• a tall glass without a pattern or a test tube.

Use a ruler to measure 10 cm from the bottom and put a mark. Then you need to pour milk into the glass exactly to the mark and leave in a warm place for 8 hours. When the product settles, a layer of cream will appear on top. It must be measured in millimeters as accurately as possible. The calculation is carried out according to the following formula: 1 mm of cream = 1% fat content. Therefore, if their height is 5 mm, then the fat content of the entire drink is 5%.

Information about the acidity of milk is necessary for those involved in home cheese making. To determine it, there are special ready-made tests. At home, you can also calculate the acidity of the product using phenolphthalein, distilled water and sodium hydroxide.

Sequencing:

1. Use a pipette to measure 10 ml of milk into a test tube.
2. Add 20 ml of distilled water and 3 drops of phenolphthalein.
3. Gradually lower 0.1 solution of normal sodium hydroxide into the contents of the test tube until a faint pink color is obtained.
4. Calculate the amount (in millimeters) of sodium hydroxide consumed to obtain a faint pink color.
5. Multiply the result by 10 - this will be an indicator of the acidity of the milk in degrees.

The acidity of milk is measured in degrees Turner. For a natural product of the highest and first grade, the norm is 16–18°T; second grade - from 18 to 20°T; off-grade milk - 21°T.

Is it possible to test powdered milk?

Powdered milk is often used in home cooking, baby food and bodybuilding diets. Before assessing the taste of a reconstituted product, it is advisable to test it in dry form. Here's what you need to pay attention to first:

1. Texture. The powder of high-quality milk powder is fine and homogeneous. Possible lumps easily crumble with light pressure with a finger. Violation of storage conditions leads to caking of the powder. This product is not worth taking.
2. Color. The powder should be white, a light cream shade is possible. Intense creamy color and brown specks indicate that the milk is burning during the drying process.
3. Smell and taste. A good product is purely milky, sometimes with the taste and smell of boiled milk.

A high-quality powder with a high protein content should not produce sediment when diluted with water.

Video: How to check the quality of a drink at home?

I would like to believe that in the near future the “milk deception” will end, and consumers will only be interested in the freshness and fat content of the drink, and not in possible additives. In the meantime, proven methods can be used to check the quality of the product.

Today, no one will be surprised by the note “natural” on a carton of milk, the shelf life of which can be up to six months, and can be stored at room temperature. Is this milk good? Everyone decides for themselves. We will tell you what you should pay attention to when choosing quality dairy products.

Natural dairy products can be bought even in large cities like Moscow. You just need to know a few not very complicated rules that apply to the choice of dairy products in general.

Firstly, “milk” without stabilizers and preservatives cannot be consistently the same quality. Batch should differ from batch to batch, since the input raw material—milk—is different. Its composition depends on the time of year, weather, quality of grass, hay and the area in which the cow lives.

Secondly, pay attention to price and composition. Don't chase the cheap! Natural dairy products cannot be cheap despite the best wishes of producers. Only non-dairy components such as vegetable fat, milk powder, starch, etc. can reduce the cost of a product. But they are not always listed in the composition.

Third, best before date. If milk is stored for 3 months, this is not very normal. Such a product is rather useless since it has been sterilized. Sterilization kills both the bad microorganisms in milk and the good ones. Remember that products without additives have a short shelf life: from 3 to 7 days, depending on the production technology.

Cottage cheese

The main danger when buying cottage cheese is to run into a product in which milk fat has been replaced with palm and coconut oil fats (this is very cheap), and the desired taste has been achieved with the help of flavorings and additives. What's bad about this product? The melting point of vegetable fats is higher than the body temperature of a healthy person. This means that fat remains in the body, sticks to the stomach, and negatively affects blood vessels and general condition. Therefore, eating such cottage cheese is dangerous for health.

Unfortunately, at home it is impossible to distinguish “vegetable” cottage cheese from natural one. This is a complex laboratory examination.

But you can remember distinctive features of natural cottage cheese and always recall them when choosing products.

1. Real cottage cheese should be white.
2. The consistency is soft, spreadable or crumbly, depending on the preparation technology.
3. The smell is characteristic milky and sour. Cottage cheese made from powdered milk does not have a very pronounced smell, much less taste.
4. Proper cottage cheese should not be bitter.
5. But the moisture or dryness of cottage cheese is a variable indicator. From batch to batch, the product may be drier or wetter: it depends on how the whey is pressed. Whey may even be visible in the curd, but it should not float in it.

Milk

The first thing you need to pay attention to when choosing milk is way to process it. At a minimum, milk requires pasteurization. It kills dangerous bacteria, but retains beneficial microorganisms in the product.

It is prohibited to sell raw milk in our country. Therefore, it is very dangerous to buy it from an old woman in the market. It is unknown what her cow is sick with. If the milk of a sick cow is not boiled, you can catch a dangerous infection - brucellosis, for example.

Naturalness of milk It’s easy to check by how it sours. If milk is made from powder or has preservatives added, it becomes immune to lactic acid bacteria. Such milk will not make curdled milk. Pour milk into a glass, place a spoonful of sour cream in it. Did you get yogurt? If yes, then the milk is natural.

If the label says milk not homogenized(that is, the fat in such a product is not brought to a homogeneous mass), which means that after a couple of days the cream should settle on the walls of the bag or bottle. No cream? This means that the fat globules in the milk were broken down and the milk was brought to a homogeneous mass.

Best before date- the main indicator of the naturalness of milk. Pasteurized milk without preservatives should be stored for no more than 5 days.

Butter

There is a myth circulating on the Internet that butter with a fat content below 82.5% is not butter at all, but margarine. And for some reason many people believe this myth. This is actually a lie. The naturalness of the oil does not depend on its fat content. Fatty butter is obtained from heavy cream. Less fatty - made from less fatty cream. That's the whole secret.

One of the main indicators of high-quality butter is its soft creamy aroma. It shouldn't be sharp or too bright.

Butter prepared in winter is white, and in summer it has a yellowish tint, which indicates that the cow ate fresh grass.

Another factor of naturalness is plastic. High-quality butter spreads easily and evenly on a sandwich, while butter prepared in violation of the recipe crumbles and crumbles.

Also remember that quality butter can't be cheap. If you see a “wow” low price, don’t be tempted. Most likely, you are dealing with a cheaper product - spread or margarine, which really wants to appear like butter.

Acidophilus

This is a very useful product, popular in Soviet times. Acidophilus is similar to kefir, but contains a completely different lactic acid culture - the acidophilus bacillus, which survives digestion in the stomach, enters the intestines and takes root well there, working from the inside like an eraser, destroying putrefactive microbes. Acidophilus is the best natural remedy for the prevention of colon cancer.

The main factor in the naturalness of acidophilus is best before date. Acidophilus bacillus lives in the product for no more than 5 days, so if the product is stored longer than this time, do not expect a therapeutic and prophylactic effect. The consistency of the product should be viscous and viscous, the color should be white, and the taste should be sour.

Kefir

Classic kefir, made according to all the rules, should have a snow-white color and a uniform consistency. It should not pour into the glass in lumps. If so, the cooking technology is broken.

Real kefir is made from live kefir grains. They are the most useful thing in kefir. And they are the ones who change the taste of the product over time. For example, today's kefir can and should taste different from three-day-old kefir.

Natural kefir with live yeast foams slightly when you pour it into a glass. It shouldn't taste too sour.

The shelf life of good kefir should not be more than 7 days. And the rule that works with natural kefir is: fresh - weakens, three or four days old - strengthens. Those who have a sensitive digestive system can check the naturalness of kefir in this way.

When dried yeast is added to pasteurized milk instead of live kefir grains, the product dramatically changes its status and can no longer be called kefir.

Article provided by the dairy company "Izbenka"

Discussion

Hello.
Great article.