Why does some milk in translucent plastic bottles taste horrible? -plastic milk taint

Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

So in my case I buy Kerry group milk- dawn or golden vale
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Amazed that you don't buy the freshest (cow to shelf time) best tasting quality controlled milk in the country.........Lee Strand!
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

Guys, Try Glenisk Organic.....a little more expensive I agree, but tastes so much better than any of the others. Also on the issue of price it works out cheaper to buy Glenisk in Dunnes / Superquinn / Supervalu than what I have occasionally been fleeced for milk in a local inconvenience store.
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

SineWave said:
Amazed that you don't buy the freshest (cow to shelf time) best tasting quality controlled milk in the country.........Lee Strand!
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I have to agree Lee Strand is great and their commitment to quality, "health and safety", energy and environmnatal management systems is unrivalled. I would add that their advertising and pack artwork is garish and looks like it was put together by tranisition year students. Also I havent been able to find any website for them.
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

I thought I was going mad too, I hate milk that comes from a plastic bottle and no one believed me that there was a difference.

I'm so glad I saw this now.
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

I appears from posts above that milk stored in a translucent plastic container and exposed to light can aquire a nasty taste (and suffer vitamin depletion).

I wonder if such milk was not exposed to light would it taste all right?
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

from cornell.edu [broken link removed]

Dear Uncle Ezra,
I hope you can settle a disagreement among my friends and I. My family and I have always tasted the difference between milk (whole,skim,2%, you name it) sold in plastic versus paper. I have searched the internet and googled over the years for different resources but never found anything conclusive. Some sites suggest it is UV, others say it's psychological. I literally just opened a brand new plastic half gallon and a new paper quart and I swear I smell (and taste) the difference.

Cornell milk is some of the best milk I've ever had and we have the Ag school... Can you please settle this debate? Thanks

A nephew

Dear nephew,

Kathryn Boor, Food Science Prof, provided this reply:
You and your family are correct, milk tastes different if it is packaged in cardboard v. plastic. The most commonly used gable-top "cardboard" container is actually a three-layer combination of polyethylene/paperboard/polyethylene. This type of container protects milk from exposure to light, which can very powerfully deteriorate milk quality. The major drawback with this type of container happens after the milk comes in contact with the paperboard part of the container (i.e., after the milk has been opened and then held in the refrigerator for a few to several days. The carton can actually pick up an odor from milk contact, and this odor can be transmitted to the milk.
This type of problem doesn't occur with milk packaged in the typical "plastic" containers, which usually are comprised of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The container itself will not pick up an aroma from contact of the milk with the opening of the container. HOWEVER, HDPE will not protect milk from exposure to light, either in the dairy case, at home, or from sunlight. Light-oxidized flavor defects can result when milk products are exposed to fluorescent lighting in retail display cases. Light-oxidized flavors are ascribed to two different groups of photodegradation reactions. The reactions of the first group involve proteins and amino acids. Photodecomposition of methionine to methional and other sulfur compounds results in flavors characterized as burnt protein (i.e. burnt feathers or hair), burnt cabbage, cooked cabbage, mushroom, medicinal, or plastic-like. Methional has been shown to appear in skim milk after exposure to direct sunlight for 10 to 15 min. Tryptophan, cysteine, histidine, and tyrosine are also subject to photochemical changes. The second group of reactions involves unsaturated fatty acids. Light can act as an oxidant, especially in the presence of riboflavin, by producing free radicals that can react with unsaturated fatty acids. Upon cleavage of fatty acids, low molecular weight aldehydes and ketones are formed. These also create nasty flavors in milk.
In research conducted in our lab, we have found that trained panelists could detect flavor defects following 15 to 30 minutes of light exposure typical of a dairy case; consumers detected defects between 54 minutes and 2 hours of exposure. As approximately 50% of plastic containers remain in dairy cases for at least eight hours, these results suggest that the majority of milk on the market in light-transmissible containers is vulnerable to development of detectable light-oxidized flavor defects. For more information on this research, please see [broken link removed]. The best containers for milk quality are light-impermeable plastic. If you're going to drink milk quickly (and not store an opened container in the refrigerator for several days), the paperboard containers are preferable to light permeable plastic.
Hope this helps!

Uncle Ezra ​
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Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

However, since Promolux lamps minimize the emission of damaging visible spectrum and UV wavelengths
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So this crowd sell dark lights?! :confused:
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

Thanks for throwing light on the topic with the really interesting link DrM.
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

Thanks for the awful pun, aj! ;)

Whatever about the merits of cartons vs plastic containers, wait until the big Irish retailers start preferring to stock that UHT muck that's so widespread on the continent... :eek:
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

One question - why don't they have plastic containers which are not clear if the major problem is light?
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

One question - why don't they have plastic containers which are not clear if the major problem is light?
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Easier said than done (cost-wise) to make the plastic fully opaque. Some couloured plastics let in light.

Long-life UHT products are actually now being supplied in such opaque containers (outside Ireland).

On fresh milk it's down to consumer demand, and the consumer isn't demanding it.
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

Vanilla said:
So in my case I buy Kerry group milk- dawn or golden vale.
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Hopefully their milk doesn't contain the same additives as some of their other products! :eek:

[broken link removed]

Going back to the original question
Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?
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I guess it means that the "brand" of milk is not as important as the packaging and storage of same?
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

ClubMan said:
I guess it means that the "brand" of milk is not as important as the packaging and storage of same?
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I know that I notice a difference in different brands over different times of the year. I'd assume it comes back to...
hansov said:
...the milk also reflects what the animal eats and so when the feed changes from regular 'munching' the grass in the field to being indoors and fed hay and silage it does come through in the taste.
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... more than one brand being "better" than another though.

Could also be related to the packaging and storage problems being more pronounced in the Summer with higher temps and more sun light.
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

I guess it means that the "brand" of milk is not as important as the packaging and storage of same?
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........and the processor of same. Many large brands along with supermaket own-brands come from the exact same processing line. Just depends which processor can meet their requisites at tendering time.
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

Tesco and Supervalu milk is branded milk in different cartons. Don't want to name the actual brands but they would be sold alongside the own brand for up to 60cent a cartin dearer.

No difference in taste from the own brand milk and if you have kids who use milk as fast as mine then the plastic cartons at 1.19 a pop for 2 litres compared to 1.80 for branded is good value. Think the plastic carton causes milk to go off faster but in our house where we go through at least one 2 litre a day it doesn't get time to go off!
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

I cant comment on the quality of Tesco own brand milk, but Tesco in Britain have driven the price of mile down, by refusing to pay farmers cost price for the milk. Dairy farms in Britain are closing at a rate of 1 a day. At this rate, Britain will be a net importer of milk in 5 years.

The Tesco milk is probably from NI, and they paythe same below cost price as in Britain.
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

huskerdu said:
but Tesco in Britain have driven the price of mile down, by refusing to pay farmers cost price for the milk.
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Does the cost price take into account EU grants that the farmers receive?
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

Another one for Glenisk organic milk - it tastes great. Reminds me of how milk tasted when I was younger. Just be careful you don't pick up the goats milk accidently - both cartons have identical packageing and usually stored beside eachother.
 
Re: Tesco milk or "brand name dairy" milk better quality?

gillarosa said:
Guys, Try Glenisk Organic.....a little more expensive I agree, but tastes so much better than any of the others.
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Glenisk is great tackaltogether. I only buy the low fat variety but it is so creamy that I can't begin to image what the full fat one is like.

I was amused to notice in the supermarket that they have extended their range and are now selling a Goat Yoghurt and a Kids' Yoghurt! Very confusing for those learning the language.
 
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