Loose milk is contaminated and adultered and hence bad for our health. Pakistan is the 5th largest Milk Producer in the world yet the consumers are exposed to the most unhygienic loose milk as there is no self-quality control or government authority check on the loose milk system. Loose milk system has worst hygienic quality at all points in its supply chain from the unhealthy animals, poor feed for animals, to unhygienic dairy farms to different types of adulterations and contaminations at different stages to poor transportation and storage conditions till they reach our home.

Also, loose milk remains whole day long in the open pans on retail milk shops with provision of continuous heating resulting undesirable changes (color changes, mineral precipitation, vitamins losses, protein denaturation, sedimentation of aggregated constituents and ultimately nutritional losses). Similar practice is being done at home by boiling of milk for several minutes (average 20 minutes according to a survey study) followed by several minutes simmering on stove. That's why no nutritional values can be claimed for loose milk.

Packaged milk is clean. It is unadulterated and not contaminated. As all good packaged milk companies source milk from the best farms of the country, where best cows are well taken care of and fed and then proper quality control measures are taken to ensure highest quality of fresh milk is sourced and then it goes through the stringent and controlled supply chain system to reach their plants where through the world acknowledged UHT standardised method it is boiled for a few seconds at a very high temperature to ensure that same nutrition is there in every drop of milk and then packed in a 6 layered special packaging that makes sure that no air, light or sun can enter it and hence keep it fresh and bacteria free.

Packaged milk is totally natural as its fresh milk that comes from packaged milk companies own dairy farms or from the best dairy farms across the country. No preservatives are added to it as its boiled under the world proven UHT standardised method to ensure that nutrients are retained and then packed in a miracle of science, 6 layer protective packaging to keep it bacteria free and fresh till you open it.

UHT milk is processed at high temperature and pressure in order to make it safe for consumption throughout the shelf life. This pressure treatment on UHT milk is termed as homogenization. Due to homogenization of UHT Milk at high temperature, fat (balai) is thoroughly homogenized / mixed in milk and is not separated at the top. Therefore UHT milk contains the same nutrition content and has same or superior quality in comparison to loose milk, however since it is homogenized; we do not see cream (balai) on its top layer.

Loose milk is never standardized and its composition varies with seasonality, dilution and adulteration. It is a known fact that loose milk available in Pakistan, is diluted with contaminated water, low quality adulterants and many non-dairy & non-food grade additives. So every time you get loose milk its nutritional values are different and low. However UHT milk is always standardized at the same composition and total solids content as per local legislation / law, therefore it contains the same / constant rich nutrition in each drop of milk in pack.

Milk is a perishable commodity and spoils very easily. Its low acidity and high nutrient content make it the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. However heat treatment such as UHT (Ultra High Temperature) kills / hibernate bacteria and product is safe to consume within its declared shelf life provided kept in aseptic packaging like tetra pack which is a miracle of science and world proven. However when packed is opened, due to exposure to bacteria present in our atmosphere, bacterial activity starts again. This bacterial activity is minimum if the product after opening is kept refrigerated and consumed within 3 days after opening. However be it packed milk or loose raw milk, if kept at ambient temperature, it simply cannot retain the same taste. In addition, there is no added preservative in packaged milk.

Loose raw milk does not have any odor and it is odorless, however the typical odor / smell associated to it could be generated because of couple of reasons. Most of the times, the typical smell is picked up during handling from our environment. Animal feed also plays a major role in typical milk stink. With change in animal feed owing to seasonality, the odor or the extent of odor varies. Since UHT milk is standardized in all aspects, therefore while processing, UHT milk undergoes a vacuum de-aeration step which eliminates all foul smells picked up from the environment or originated from animal feed. Hence UHT / packaged milk are always free of such smells.

The quality of UHT produce depends directly on the quality of its raw material i.e. raw milk. Raw milk sourced in UHT Milk of good packaged milk companies is of superior quality and is collected from their own dairy farm or from their approved and monitored best dairy farmers of the country. Their agri-services team develops a close liaison with farmers and helps them with improved yields and productivity of milk from their animals and also keeps a strong quality control check on the entire loose milk production and supply system against any adulteration or contamination. Dangerous practices like hormonal injections etc. are strongly discouraged and such raw milk is not accepted at our processing facilities.

So this is one big advantage of packaged milk over loose milk is that such adulterations are thoroughly checked in world class laboratories at plant and poor quality raw milk is rejected, however loose milk is not checked at stage of its supply chain system and hence loose milk consumers are exposed to potential poor quality adulterated milk without any monitoring mechanism in place. Also all packaged companies come under government and other regulatory control while the loose milk system is un regulated and under no one’s control,

It is this great infrastructure of good packaged milk companies that helps provide consistent great quality of standardized milk with same taste, color and nutrition to the consumer throughout the year.

Packaged UHT Milk is absolutely safe for human consumption and not at all 'dangerous' by any means. Packaged milk is the only choice of all healthy and educated nations of the world, as they have banned the loose milk supply system cause of its adulteration and contamination reasons.

However in our country where education and awareness is low and where anything and everything goes, such claims of packaged UHT milk not being good did surface, but then were taken back by these authorities when the packaged milk companies showed and proved all these claims as false. Infact it’s the other way round. Its loose milk that is dangerous for us. As it comes to our homes through no check or control of any sort and is highly adultered and contaminated.

All great packaged milk companies make sure that their milk is 100% preservative free and full of nutrition that children need for their growth and development. Their special world renowned UHT process eliminates the bacteria and pathogens and it is the aseptic Tetrapak packaging which prevents any light or air to enter the milk and hence the bacteria or germs from getting into the milk which is why their shelf life is longer. If packaged milk is left open to the environment after the pack is opened and not refrigerated then it goes bad just like any other milk. So there are no preservatives to counter this natural quality of milk.