Where does this come from, and can I check it?

A few seconds at that heat sterilises the milk so it keeps for months unopened. The figure is taken from US Food and Drug Administration, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a food fact?

Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

UHT milk is heated to 135 degrees

A few seconds at that heat sterilises the milk so it keeps for months unopened Ultra high temperature treatment pushes milk to between 135 and 150 degrees Celsius for two to five seconds, then cools it immediately. The flash heating kills bacterial spores that ordinary pasteurisation leaves behind, and packing in sterile cartons keeps them out. The trade off is a slight cooked taste from whey proteins altered by the heat. It sits in Mondo's food collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

US Food and Drug Administration

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

Food & Cooking trivia

More facts like this

Homogenisation stops cream rising to the topMilk is forced through a fine valve at high pressure, smashing its fat globules Milk is an emulsion of fat in waterFat droplets, protein clusters and dissolved sugar all share the same liquid Pasteurisation heats liquids to eliminate harmful microbesControlled thermal processing destroys disease microorganisms without boiling liquid Rennet enzymes curdle milk proteins into firm cheeseChymosin cleaves kappa-casein to allow milk solids to aggregate into solid curds Churning cream causes a milk fat phase inversionVigorous shaking transforms an oil in water emulsion into a water in fat emulsion Rapid freezing creates smooth ice cream textureForming tiny ice crystals prevents a grainy texture in frozen dairy products

Tags: milk, sterilisation, dairy

UHT milk is heated to 135 degrees: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: A few seconds at that heat sterilises the milk so it keeps for months unopened. The figure is taken from US Food and Drug Administration, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a food fact?: Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.