pasteurised milk

• by law, all milk must be heat treated to destroy any pathogenic bacteria and ensure that is is safe to drink
• this heat treatment takes place at the milk processing plant and is called pasteurisation
• it is against the law to sell unpasteurised or 'raw' milk without a special license
• pasteurisation is the process of heating the milk to 75 degrees for 20 seconds and then rapidly cooling it to 5 degrees
• this level of heating is enough to destroy most pathogenic bacteria making the milk safe to drink with a longer shelf life, without affecting its overall flavour
• the pasteurised milk is then sealed into containers ready for sale
• pasteurised milk, if left to settle will form a cream layer at the surface.
• to prevent this from happening, the milk can be homogenised