Off-tastes in raw and reconstituted milk

During the past 20 years the manufacture of recombined milk has developed considerably, particularly in Southeast Asia, India and Latin America. Recombination offers a number of advantages for countries where milk produuction is insufficient, in that transport and handling costs are considerably reduced and raw material storage costs are low. Moreover, this method encourages the development of a local dairy industry and also the creation of packing centres. However, certain problems are inv olved, mainly a decrease in the organoleptic quality of the recombined product. Many countries recombine milk from skimmed milk powder and anhydrous milk fat (AMF). The recombined milk can be mixed in turn with local raw milk. In both cases the product meets a certain amount of consumer resistance because of the poor taste (Hardy, 1980; Ramet, 1978 and 1980).