Lawsuit pending against Dairy Industry

[jinx]

MMmmm. Got pus?

[BigV]

Titanium Dioxide

short enough to copy entire article...

The Influence of Fat Substitutes Based on Protein and Titanium Dioxide on the Sensory Properties of Lowfat Milks
Lance G. Phillips 1 and David M. Barbano 1

1 Northeast Dairy Foods Research Center, Department of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853

The following food-grade ingredients were evaluated as fat substitutes in skim milk: Simplesse® Dry 100 (The Nutrasweet Company, Deerfield, IL), LitessTM (Cultor, New York, NY), whey protein concentrate, sodium caseinate, Dairy LoTM (Cultor), and titanium dioxide. The addition of 3% Simplesse® Dry 100 to skim milk gave milk an appearance that was similar to that of 0.5% fat milk, and mouthfeel was improved to be equivalent to that of milk containing about 1% fat, which is similar to previous results with NDM. Suspension of titanium dioxide in skim milk made the milk whiter, which resulted in improved sensory scores for appearance, creamy aroma, and texture. Skim milk containing titanium dioxide was slightly bluer and greener (i.e., lower b and a values, respectively) than 2% fat milk. Correspondingly, the skim milk containing titanium dioxide was rated lower than the 2% fat milk for visual hang up (a measure of how well milk coats the glass), creamy aroma, texture, and aftertaste. A fat substitute for 2 % fat milk must impart not only the opacity and whiteness of fat but also make the milk less blue and less green. The impact of titanium dioxide on the sensory characteristics of skim milk demonstrated the importance of whiteness. There is clearly a need to develop a whitener for fat-free milk other than titanium dioxide to provide processors with an ingredient option that would improve sensory properties and provide a nutritional benefit.

Key Words: color • milk • fat substitute • titanium dioxide

Submitted on December 26, 1996
Accepted on June 6, 1997

[BigV]

Also interesting:
Why is milk white?

Why is milk white? was a question asked in my Summer, 2003 newsletter from the dairy that delivers my milk, Royal Crest Dairy in Denver. The answer given was: "Milk contains casein, a milk protein rich in calcium that is white." Well, whether it is the casein or the calcium that should be white, this answer is incorrect.

The casein is soluble either in the water or the fat of the milk emulsion, and would be colorless and transparent in either case. Calcium, of course, is not white either. Even calcium carbonate is clear and colorless in a good crystal.

The whiteness is due to the scattering of light by the colloidal particles of the milk emulsion. Just the fact that we get white shows that there is no absorption, so whatever is there is transparent. This is true of most whites. The excellent white pigment titanium dioxide is actually made of clear crystals, dispersed as colloidal particles. Nearly all whites are the result of scattering from colloidal-sized particles. Colors, like green, may be produced in transmission by absorption of other colors; no such process can produce white, which in fact is a subjective color, existing completely in the visual sense. White is a very special color.

Minor quibble, UT: White is ALL colors. If sunlight, containing all wavelengths of visible light, is shined on a surface, we'll see what's reflected. When no specific colors/wavelengths of light are absorbed, we see what has been reflected. When we see a color, it is because all wavelengths BUT that wavelength have been absorbed by the object we see of that color. When we see black, we see an object whose surface has absorbed ALL frequencies, leaving nothing, no color, black. When we see white, it's because the surface reflects ALL frequencies of light, so we see all the colors together==white.

tw: these two posts contain technical information about the scattering and absorbtion of light. Proceed with caution.

[melidasaur]

This ranks up there on my list of stupid lawsuits.... why don't we put a label on all food that says - if you eat too much of this you'll get sick and might puke - please consult your physician.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by melidasaur

This ranks up there on my list of stupid lawsuits.... why don't we put a label on all food that says - if you eat too much of this you'll get sick and might puke - please consult your physician.

no such process can produce white, which in fact is a subjective color, existing completely in the visual sense. White is a very special color.

Try to buy white automotive touch-up paint. There are about 4 dozen different whites.

[Undertoad]

They tested it. Good for them! Looks like titanium dioxide is used in milk substitutes such as malk. No evidence it's an additive to things called milk though.

[Tonchi]

I googled it too and turned up a lot about yogurt coloring and not much else useful. In fact, Google seems to become less useful now that everybody knows about it. A few years ago I was able to find the most amazing articles, nowdays it is mostly stuff from technical sites which has nothing to do with what I am wanted. Expanding the capabilities of their search engines has not necessarily made Google better, Yahoo seems to find more of the things I am looking up lately.

I wish the Arizona Republic could let me search their archives from November 1984, because I believe that was when I read about this happening. Well, maybe sometime soon I'll drive out to one of those huge producers we have around here and try to find somebody who will talk about what they did with the milk 20 years ago. Could be that they put a stop to it, but I did NOT dream up reading about it when I lived in Phoenix.

As far as why investigate if it is permitted to add color, they were adding TOO MUCH as I recall. I also remember reading a book called "Beautiful Joe" when I was a kid which described unscrupulous milkmen during Victorian times in the USA adding white powders to the milk because the cows were sickly and their milk was thin. In places where milk comes from small producers and not the huge dairy conglomerates which are taking over entire counties in California, it might be harder to regulate and milk might be sold which did not precisely meet FDA requirements. We milk drinkers in 1950's North Carolina used to dread the early springtime because the cows would be eating sprouted wild onions in the fields and the milk produced had a decidedly onion flavor. With milk being mass-procssed by fewer companies, we don't have that problem anymore and all the milk is uniformly tasteless.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by BigV

Minor quibble, UT: White is ALL colors.

White is all colors of light, no colors of pigment.

Black is the absence of color of light, and the presence of color of pigment.

And in case you wondered, I typically jaywalk.

[BigV]

Ju tawkin 2 ME?

[Rock Steady]

Originally Posted by Tonchi

I googled it too and turned up a lot about yogurt coloring and not much else useful. In fact, Google seems to become less useful now that everybody knows about it. A few years ago I was able to find the most amazing articles, nowdays it is mostly stuff from technical sites which has nothing to do with what I am wanted. Expanding the capabilities of their search engines has not necessarily made Google better, Yahoo seems to find more of the things I am looking up lately.

Hey girlfriend, you are right about the G. They boast a large document collection half based on indexing web pages by the text of the anchor rather than actually spidering the page. And Google is now Big Brother filtering as much of your text and email as they can get their paws on. They want to set up free WiFi throughout SF, no thanks.

After Yahoo bought Inktomi and Overture (which had bought Alta Vista and FAST), a group of very smart engineers used the Inktomi search engine as the base code and added features from the other two. The relevance scoring polynomial in that is now really large and complex, but it works well after extensive testing and tweaking.

Try Clusty, it groups topics for you.

http://clusty.com/search?query=white...nt%20in%20milk

You get useful information on the first try.

⇨Paint (62)
⇨Titanium Dioxide (21)
⇨Skin (18)
⇨Definition (15)
⇨Pigment Powders (6)
⇨Cattle (6)
⇨Glossary (5)
⇨Goat's Milk Soap Base (4)
⇨Fresco, Colors on White Pigment (2)
⇨Carton Of Milk (3)

Share and Enjoy

[Tonchi]

WOW! Thanks so much, this should be fascinating to play with the next time I have to find a reference. The only problem is I have a tendency to actually READ all the interesting looking stuff that turns up, which is why I never get any sleep