Skip to main content

New pasteurization alternative sanitizes milk without killing good bacteria

milk electron zapping texas 10645428 l
Luchschen/123RF
Although pasteurization kills harmful pathogens in raw milk by briefly heating it to 161 degrees Fahrenheit, not everyone is convinced that it’s an entirely positive process. Along with the bad components eliminated through pasteurization, the process also diminishes some of the beneficial ingredients of raw milk, such as an assortment of enzymes and vitamins.

Who would have thought that particle physics could help? Well, evidently researchers from Texas A&M University, because they’ve developed a method for deactivating bacteria in raw milk using an electron beam. The technique reportedly achieves the same bacteria-killing effect as pasteurizing milk, but without actually having to heat it up and therefore getting rid of the white stuff’s good components.

Recommended Videos

Texas A&M’s proof-of-concept demonstration involved zapping milk with an almost light-speed quantity of electrons using the university’s Electron Beam Linear Accelerator. In previous studies, researchers have found that this process can kill the bad bacteria in milk by affecting it on a DNA level. What the researchers in this new study have shown, however, is that this doesn’t affect the nutritional content of milk like traditional pasteurization does.

After the milk was treated, the only notable decrease in nutrients the researchers found was with riboflavins, which fell by around 32 percent — although the remaining quantity was still enough to make the milk a good riboflavin source. In all other ways, the nutrients were similar to those that you would find in raw milk.

There is one catch, though. Some of the milk fat oxidizes in the process, which also resulted in the production of more than 20 volatile compounds. That sounds more sinister than it actually is — although it had the result of producing a smell that milk doesn’t usually possess. Right now, the team is carrying out further testing to make sure that these volatile components are completely safe.

If they are, and if the researchers can find someone interested in commercializing the technology, then electron beam-treated milk could possibly be hitting grocery store shelves before too long.

Any wagers as to what color bottle cap would denote milk treated by particle physics?

Luke Dormehl
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Range Rover’s first electric SUV has 48,000 pre-orders
Land Rover Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition

Range Rover, the brand made famous for its British-styled, luxury, all-terrain SUVs, is keen to show it means business about going electric.

And, according to the most recent investor presentation by parent company JLR, that’s all because Range Rover fans are showing the way. Not only was demand for Range Rover’s hybrid vehicles up 29% in the last six months, but customers are buying hybrids “as a stepping stone towards battery electric vehicles,” the company says.

Read more
BYD’s cheap EVs might remain out of Canada too
BYD Han

With Chinese-made electric vehicles facing stiff tariffs in both Europe and America, a stirring question for EV drivers has started to arise: Can the race to make EVs more affordable continue if the world leader is kept out of the race?

China’s BYD, recognized as a global leader in terms of affordability, had to backtrack on plans to reach the U.S. market after the Biden administration in May imposed 100% tariffs on EVs made in China.

Read more
Tesla posts exaggerate self-driving capacity, safety regulators say
Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
In these instances, it appears that “the driver may not be aware that he or she is responsible” to make appropriate operational selections, or “fully understand” the nuances of the system, NHTSA said.
Meanwhile, “Tesla’s X (Twitter) account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Gregory Magno, the NHTSA’s vehicle defects chief investigator, wrote to Tesla in an email.
The postings, which included reposted YouTube videos, may encourage viewers to see FSD-supervised as a “Robotaxi” instead of a partially automated, driver-assist system that requires “persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno said.
In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.

Read more