CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DISPERSED PHASE OF MILK EMULSION AS AN OBJECT OF HOMOGENIZATION

The article analyzes modern information about the dispersed characteristics of milk emulsion as an object of milk homogenization: size of fat globules before and after homogenization, temperature parameters and their influence, stability of fat phase and methods of its preservation, state of protein phase of milk and its changes in homogenization. Data on the structure of fat globules are given. There is a lack of standards and regulations explaining the degree of dispersion of milk fat particles after homogenization. To determine the required size of fat globules in the process of homogenization, the following data are taken into account: instructions for chemical control of the Soviet Union; the average size of fat globules in the most common - valve homogenizers; the average size of fat globules after processing according to the recommended modes of homogenization (pressure) in technological schemes of production of drinking milk and cream; the limit of dispersion of milk fat emulsion after processing in vacuum, rotor-pulsation, etc. homogenizers; compliance with the United States Public Health Service on the degree of fat sedimentation; requirements for the difference in fat content in the bottle during storage. As a result of the analysis, the dispersion of the milk emulsion was determined, which is sufficient for the existing technologies of dairy production: 0.75–0.85 μm. According to the values of surface tension at the border between fat-air and plasma-air, the value of surface tension of the surface of the globule is determined, which is 0.024 N/m. However, the assumption is made that due to the complexity of the structure of the fat globule and its shell, it is wrong to take the generally accepted approach to consider the main characteristic of the strength of the shells of the fat globule to be only surface tension.