What is UHT Milk And What Are the Benefits of It?

Pasteurization has been the name of the milk game for a long time now. In our modern world, along with other health advances, scientists realized that if milk wasn’t sterilized after being extracted from the cow, goat, or sheep, toxic bacteria and spores can enter our bodies and prove to be potentially lethal. Normal pasteurization kills most of those germs, it doesn’t necessarily get rid of all of them. The solution? Meet UHT milk.

UHT, or ultra-heated milk has a shelf life of between 6 to 9 months. It’s basically ultra-pasteurized milk created to extend the shelf life of dairy products. Due to its unique composition and extended shelf life, you actually don’t need to refrigerate this kind of milk.

Parmalat was the first processor to bring the masses UHT milk, but when they came out in the 1990s, people were suspicious about the fact that this milk didn’t need a fridge. It turned out to just be a preference — most people prefer to drink their milk cold. Today, UHT milk lines our grocery store aisles and rather than advertising that you don’t need to keep it cold, they quietly kept it in the fridge and held onto normal packaging. Today, most of the milk in the U.S. is UHT.

Here are the top benefits of drinking it:

1. The most obvious. It doesn’t need to be refrigerated! A lot of us have minimal fridge space, and for it to last more than 6 months without a cold environment is pretty impressive. There’s nothing worse than hoping to wake up to a bowl  of cereal only to find curdled dairy. Goodbye spoiled milk!

2. Apart from the US, UHT milk is completely dominating China. Also, in Europe it’s been the norm for years- they just laugh if people show hesitation towards UHT milk, since it’s the norm.THey’re always ahead of the curve, so this statistic is significant.