High Pressure Processing and Its Impact on Milk Proteins: A Review

Abstract

High pressure processing (HPP) is a non-thermal or cold pasteurization technique to
preserve various food products. High pressure in range of 100–1000 MPa affects size,
shape and conformation of various milk proteins. Casein micelles having primary
conformation are not affected under low pressure, but disintegrate at high pressure
(300 MPa). β-lactoglobulin (β-lg) is one of the most pressure-sensitive proteins and α-
lactalbumin (α-la) is one of the most pressure resistant. Bovine serum albumin,
lactoferrin and immunoglobulins are not much affected by high hydrostatic pressure
(HHP). It has been observed that to achieve the shelf-life of thermally pasteurized milk of
10 days at 10 °C, a pressure treatment of at least 400 MPa for 15 min or 500 MPa for
3 min is required.
Keywords: Casein, immunoglobulins, lactoglobulin, lactalbumin, high hydrostatic
pressure