Food University asks: 7 questions for choosing milk products

The editor of a certain magazine must ask me to talk about the topic of milk selection. He said that many consumers now use milk as a gift for friends and family, and readers with children at home care about it.

1. There are more and more varieties and names of milk in supermarkets. High-calcium milk, iron-zinc milk, low-fat milk, breakfast milk, and fruit and vegetable milk are emerging one after another. How to choose your own milk?

Even the same group of people have different physiques, so they can't recommend uniform milk for them. In general, I recommend pure milk and nothing is added. Because the milk only needs to play the role of milk, it is not necessary to replace it with other foods. If we need fruits and vegetables, we can eat fresh fruits and vegetables ourselves, and the effect of fruits and vegetables after autoclaving with milk will definitely be better and the quantity will be much larger. If we need breakfast, we can use milk to eat with the staple food. It is not necessary to save the main food and then add a little bit of oatmeal and a lot of sugar to the so-called breakfast milk. If you need iron and zinc supplements, eat seafood, nuts, and the like directly. Why do you expect that iron and zinc to be added to your milk?

2. How to distinguish the milk that is bought back is high quality milk, what is the simple and easy way to judge?

If it is pure milk, do not judge it with aroma or intensity, because these can be artificially added. First look at whether the taste is smooth. After standardization and homogeneous treatment of milk, the texture and viscosity are not normal, even and smooth, it is easy to slip into the milk in the dumplings, is the normal state. Pour it in a clean glass, stop for a few minutes, and pour it out. If the cup wall is evenly thin, it is normal. However, if there are fine particles and fine lumps on the wall of the cup, it indicates that the raw milk has been caked, which is a sign that the raw milk quality is not good. Then taste, if there is a strong smell, or sweet, indicating the addition of flavor or flavor enhancer. Milk is basically unsweetened and the aroma is not so strong. However, if there is a slight bitter taste, sour taste, etc., indicating that the quality of raw materials is poor. When it has not been heated until it has been boiled, it is found that the milk has stratified or agglomerated phenomenon, indicating that the microorganisms in the milk have greatly exceeded the standard.

3. Is so-called organic milk more nutritious and healthier than regular milk?

Organic products or AA-grade green foods need to comply with the relevant production regulations from the feed to the feeding method and the breeding environment. Their safety is much higher. For example, the antibiotic residue is very low, the pesticide residue is also small, hormones are not used, etc. . In this way, it is very beneficial to the safety of the baby. Because the baby's liver organs are not mature, their ability to detoxify is worse than that of adults, especially when they are sensitive to antibiotics. The cost of producing such products will be much higher, the output will be much lower, and the higher prices are very reasonable. Organic, however, does not mean that the nutrient content is necessarily higher, nor does it mean that the flavor is more intense than other milks. Because it can not add any additives, so its flavor is natural, will not be sweet, strong, sticky, but the natural smooth state.

4. Now that there is a high-priced boxed milk in the supermarket, the propaganda says that nutrition is more comprehensive. Is it really more expensive for milk?

The propaganda of the business can not be believed. The quality of milk may not be absolutely proportional to the price, because the composition of the price includes many aspects such as packaging, advertising, marketing costs and profits. In general, the carton package of milk is a few cents, which is not available to consumers. A large amount of advertising must also allow consumers to pay for it. Whether you are willing to buy or not, that is what you are willing to do. As far as I personally know, no high-end milk in boxed boxes was found to be more nutritionally valuable than the pasteurized milk in the freezer.

5. Protein and fat content are indicated on the packaging. Is it better to have a higher protein content and the lower the fat content, the better?

The content of protein and fat on the package is a reflection of the inherent quality of milk. A higher protein content of milk does indicate better quality, but whether to spend twice the price to buy 15% higher protein, the decision in the hands of customers. Or, for a cup of milk, it means only 1 gram of protein, which is only 1/6 of the protein content of an egg. The higher fat content of milk means that its flavor and mouth feel improved significantly. As a matter of preference, most people love to drink more milk with more fat. It is really not savory to drink skim milk. I personally prefer to use it for cooking, such as steamed egg tarts, served with drinks, or pasta. A glass of skimmed milk compared with full-fat milk, the fat content is reduced by only 4 grams, equivalent to only 1/3 tablespoons of cooking oil, in fact, in the course of a day, no significant weight-loss effect.

6. What is the difference between boxed milk and bagged milk?

Because the packaging is different, the sterilization conditions are different, the shelf life and storage conditions are also different, and there is not necessarily a direct relationship with the inherent quality of milk. The chilled milk in thin plastic bags can only be used within 48 hours under refrigerated conditions, and the boxed milk in roof boxes can be placed in the cold room for 7-10 days. Pillow packed milk can be placed at room temperature for 40 days, and boxed milk can be stored at room temperature for 8 months. In general, chilled milk is better able to maintain the nutritional and flavour qualities of fresh milk. Since there are refrigerators at home, since we go out and purchase twice a week, if it is not for convenience of going out, why should we buy milk for 8 months? From an environmental point of view, long-term high-temperature heating of milk consumption can be more, and normal temperature milk cartons consumption of resources is also more conducive to low-carbon environmental protection.

7. Does high-calcium milk really contain high calcium, can these calcium bodies be fully absorbed?

Not necessarily. The milk itself has a lot of calcium, artificially adding calcium is a baffling thing. Therefore, there is hardly any high-calcium milk in foreign supermarkets. Because many consumers lack the relevant knowledge, businesses will use the brand of high calcium milk to attract people to buy. Adding calcium to milk is a very difficult thing because adding too much calcium can cause the precipitation of milk protein and affect the taste. Therefore, the amount of added calcium is very limited, and it is far less than the amount of calcium originally found in milk. At the same time, the added calcium is not necessarily the state of calcium in milk, and no one can prove that the additional calcium and milk can maintain the same absorption rate as the original calcium. Therefore, personal advice is good to buy ordinary milk. Don't be tempted by various concepts. Believe that cows are much more reliable than believing in advertising.