The aseptic Holy Grail

Dairy Foods, June, 2002 by Dave Fusaro

It just finished my Outrageous Orange Creme milk pint from my local Dominick's grocery store. At 75 cents, it's no luxury item, but it feels like an indulgence. Sure, it's milk, but it's different. Maybe next time I'll try a vanilla shake. This is gonna make me drink more milk.

It's taken a couple of years, but the fluid milk industry is finally getting it right. First came the flavors, then single-serve plastic bottles. Now I see the business poised for the biggest breakthrough of all: shelf-stable single-serve plastic bottles.

This is where I hoped the dairy industry would arrive when I signed on as editor of Dairy Foods in 1996. Flavored milk is proliferating, there are vending machines in my kids' school, and now comes the Holy Grail.

I recall discovering shelf-stable milk in steps. Early in my tenure at Dairy Foods I came across some aseptic boxes from Parmalat. Despite its utility, it wasn't the handiest package, and I detected the "burnt" taste of the higher processing temperatures. I learned how difficult the process was for Tetra Pak to get FDA approval to call this milk shelf-stable.

Then I discovered that shelf-stable milk in single-serve plastic bottles existed in Europe. Even though the same aseptic filling systems began appearing in the U.S., they weren't capable of producing shelf stable milk. At least no one was able to say so.

Finally I learned the little secret that was shared by several in the U.S. fluid milk industry. Bill McCabe of Smith Dairy divulged it to me. "I've still got some egg nog from last Christmas," he told me. "You know, I could drink it right now, nearly a year later. It's shelf stable."

So the secret was out. But who would be the first to apply for FDA approval in this country?

When I read about the big merger of Dean and Suiza in the pages of Dairy Foods, I asked myself: When is the leading dairy company going to act like the leader? The answer came in the January issue: The Morningstar unit of Suiza/Dean was going to seek FDA approval to produce Hershey's Milk and Shakes and Folger's Jakada in HDPE bottles, and to distribute and sell the products with or without refrigeration. Hallelujah!

I don't know when I'm going to feel like having a caramel milk, but if it's not handy when I have the craving, the opportunity is lost. I'll even pay for it now if I can drink it weeks, maybe months, from now. But you'll never be able to sell enough caramel milk to justify a run in fresh milk. Aseptic is the only way.

In a speech to a dairy group a few years back and from this same editorial page, I asked when I would be able to buy a 24-bottle case of single-serve bottles warm at my local Sam's Club; at least eight different flavors, including root beer, berry, mocha, and a few of those caramels; put one of each in the garage refrigerator with the rest sitting unrefrigerated on the shelves next to the beer; and put one in the kids' lunches every day. Maybe toss a few down myself after cutting the lawn. Yeah, that's right, milk, not beer. But not white milk or even chocolate. I'm in a mint frappe mood right now. My neighbor wants banana.

Dairy Foods is always interested in providing a forum for the views of industry. This is one in a series of guest editorials that will occasionally appear in this space.