Good Thinking

First cold-pressed cow's milk on sale in Australia

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The cold pressed milk is reported creamier and more vitamin-rich than conventionally processed milk
The cold pressed milk is reported creamier and more vitamin-rich than conventionally processed milk
The plastic bottle and milk inside are compressed by around 15 percent for several minutes, eliminating any harmful bacteria

Before we drink cow's milk, it is routinely pasteurized and homogenized to make it safe and consistent. Australian outfit Made by Cow says that this eliminates much of its goodness and flavor, so has created a new cold press method that makes it safe to drink much closer to its fresh state.

When milk is fresh from a cow, it is typically far richer than what we purchase in stores. If left to settle, it develops a layer of cream on top and contains vitamins like A, B1, B2, B12, and potassium. The homogenization process breaks down the cream to create a more liquefied consistency throughout, while pasteurization heats the milk to eliminate harmful bacteria, but can also reduce the nutrient content of the final product (although there is some debate about this).

Made by Cow (MBC) says its alternative cold-pressure approach is a world first, with the milk going from cow to bottle within a matter of hours. The company explains that it is then put under intense "isostatic cold water pressure." Here, cold water is used to compress both the bottle, which is plastic so as to flex, and the milk inside.

The exact "pressure and time recipe" is subject to a patent application, so details are scant. The firm has revealed that the bottle and milk are compressed by around 15 percent for several minutes, using large pumps to generate pressure equally from all sides.

MBC reports that "bacteria can't withstand the pressure we subject them to" and so are eliminated, while the cold temperature of the water reportedly ensures that the process is gentler on the milk's nutritional profile.

The plastic bottle and milk inside are compressed by around 15 percent for several minutes, eliminating any harmful bacteria

MBC claims that the resulting produce is creamier and more vitamin-rich than conventionally processed milk and that it will actually last slightly longer, too, though specifics are not yet available.

The firm is currently running tests and tells Gizmag that early results appear to confirm that its cold-pressed milk has a vitamin profile closer to raw milk than does pasteurized milk. Data will be published online when testing has been completed.

The Food Authority of New South Wales has approved Made by Cow's cold pressure method as being as safe or safer than heat pasteurization. The milk first went into Australian stores earlier this month.

The video below provides an explanation of the cold-pressing process.

Source: Made by Cow



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10 comments
windykites
How is it possible to compress milk by 15%? Liquids are in-compressible.
StreetUrchin
Everything is compressible (just not by very much in some cases).... just a matter of pressure and temperature. Those identified as "nearly incompressible" meaning they take exceptional amounts of pressure to do very little. Note their process involves cooling which would increase the density in addition to the applied force. Still it does seem to be an quite a bit of compression IMO, it takes 150 atmospheres to compress water 1% (I think)... so a 15%... and petroleum oil takes 1000 PSI for every 0.5% of compression (on average). I have no idea what Milk would take for PSI, but chances are you don't want to be near the device if it blows...
yawood
For those outside Australia...a number of small milk producers have been having a huge stoush (fight) with government regulators. The producers were selling raw milk and the regulators stopped them and said it wasn't safe because the milk wasn't pasteurised (in Australia you can drink raw milk from your own cow but cannot legally sell it). The producers then started selling milk that was labelled to say it was for bathing, not drinking. The regulators soon put a stop to that. This cold pressed method is the result so that they can legally sell milk that has not been pasteurised. So the producers (and the people who buy from them) are happy and the regulators are happy. It's a win-win (except for those who insist on everything being exactly as from nature and forget about the consequences caused by delays in the supply chain - or the consequences to the public of unregulated hygiene practices etc.)
akarp
This is anything but 'new': http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodScienceResearch/SafePracticesforFoodProcesses/ucm101456.htm
agulesin
Well if it's as nice as that from the dairy bulk tank on a farm (from which we used to drink as children regularly on my friend's farm), then I want some!
ljaques
The compression probably comes from air bubbles introduced into the milk during its transit into the container.
I like this idea and would prefer to drink raw milk. Pasteurization kills good life forms in the milk, but I guess that compression would do this as well.
Hope it comes to the USA soon so I can try it.
Timelord
@windykites, liquids are incompressible under normal conditions. The process isn't normal conditions. Read their website. They claim they put the milk under almost 100,000 psi. Even fluids will lose some volume under that much pressure.
icykel
As I understand it: Pasteurisation kills 'good' bacteria as well as 'bad'. Now in the times before wisdom (bw), all bacteria were 'bad'. But now there is increasing evidence that most bacteria and us live in harmony and even at times, symbiotically. There is so much evidence now supporting the idea that living in a sterile environment can be harmful for our immune systems which may fail to be 'turned on'. The increase in asthma in first world countries could be due to this phenomenon. Some of the 'good' bacterium present in milk are strains of lactobacillus - some of the 'good', important bacteria needed in our gut and are the organisms which produce yoghurt. Lactobacillus are powerful 'protective agents' they help prevent milk from going bad/rotten (from the growth of the 'not good' guys) but instead turn the milk sour. Milk that is pasteurised looses these protective agents - along with the harmful bacteria of course. But actually, without the 'goodguys' the pasteurised milk is a great breading ground for some pretty nasty 'baddies' if/when not kept properly refrigerated. Hopefully this new treatment proves better than pasteurisation but if it kills all the 'good guys' that will really not satisfy the likes of me. I love raw milk. I wonder how the cost benefits from pasteurisation stack up against all the costs associated with sicknesses resulting from the 'sterilisation' game ? Obviously sterilisation is incredibly important but it so needs to be SELECTIVE. Sauerkraut is another important food type that's value is largely destroyed by pasteurisation so better you make than you buy.
habakak
So we cannot definitively determine the difference in nutritional profile (and otherwise) between untreated, pasteurized and cold-pressed milk? Wow. Why all the fuzz? As long as it does not present a public health risk, more options/choice is good. For the cold-pressed crowd, I guess they could use this like the organic crowd to jack the prices. Let the fools be separated from their money.
WagTheDog
Drinking raw milk right out of the cow is comparable to Russian Roulette. I stupidly drank a glass of it on a bike ride high above Zermatt, Switzerland in 1997, even after my biking buddy, an Iowa dairy farmer, warned me not to do it. I got so sick I thought I would die. Raw milk is for fools, "compressed" or not.