STUDY ON THE LIGHT PROTECTION EFFECT OF BROWN RETURNABLE BOTTLES FOR DIRECTLY HEATED UHT MILK

According to legal provisions UHT milk must be filled into sterile packages which are adequately protected against light. In Germany directly heated UHT milk has, for the first time, now been filled into brown returnable bottles. The results obtained from chemical and sensory analyses of this milk, which has been exposed to diffuse daylight as well as to fluorescent lamp light over a period of up to 91 days at room temperatures between 20.5-25-degrees-C in original packages did not reveal significant differences between the milk samples exposed to light and those stored in the dark during the shelf-life of 73 days. The brown glass bottle meets, hence, the legal requirements for adequate protection against light of directly heated UHT whole milk during the time of minimum durability.