Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 06/09/2022
Claims about the legal possibility of putting expired milk back for sale by repeating the pasteurization process have been present on social networks for more than ten years. However, such a possibility does not exist, and such a process is not carried out.
There are viral claims on social networks suggesting that milk whose use-by date has expired can legally be put back for sale by repeating the pasteurization process. These claims were published in our language as early as 2011 (1, 2), and during August 2022, they were published on more than 50 Facebook profiles and pages.
In one of the announcements from August 2022, it is stated:
From a professional perspective:
Did you know that expired milk is sent back to the manufacturer, who has legal permission to repeat the pasteurization process at 190°C, and to return it to the market. According to the law, this process can be repeated 5 times. The producer is only obliged to indicate how many times he has repeated the process and he publishes it, but in his own way, knowing that almost no one questions whether the milk has been processed more than once. The secret is written on the bottom of the tetra-pack with tiny numbers.
Let’s imagine that the written number is 12345! The missing number indicates how many times the milk was recycled. For example 123 5, the number 4 is missing, which means that the milk has expired 4 times and the same number of times it has been boiled again with the addition of chemical substances to make it look fresh to customers.
The same posts also shared a photo of the bottom of the milk packaging. The numbers written in the lower left corner indicate how often the pasteurization process has been repeated on the milk after its expiration date.
What are the facts?
Pasteurization is a process named after the scientist Louis Pasteur that uses heat to destroy pathogens in food, according to the website of the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA). As IDFA explains, when it comes to dairy products, pasteurization means “the process of heating every particle of milk or milk products” in prescribed equipment, at a prescribed temperature and for a prescribed period of time. Pasteurization at 190 degrees Celsius is not listed in the IDFA’s list of prescribed temperatures. The highest temperature stated is 138ºC, and refers to “ultra pasteurization”.
We contacted the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Srpska and the Food Safety Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding the claims about the alleged legal possibility of re-pasteurizing milk.
By the time of writing this analysis, we have received a response from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the RS and the Food Safety Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As the aforementioned ministry stated in response to our inquiry, “pasteurization of milk at 190 degrees ºC is not possible and of course it is never done”. When it comes to the alleged law that enables re-pasteurization, the Ministry pointed out:
This is not done, and no law or regulation regulates that area.
Dairies do not do double pasteurization after one process and its release to retail.
Such indications, which are written on certain web portals and presented publicly, only mislead consumers and create fear from the health aspect.
The numbers that the gentlemen referred to as the number of pasteurizations done do not represent the number of pasteurizations or any other process in milk processing but the structure of the materials used to make the milk packaging itself.
We repeat once again, there is no return of milk for heat treatment.
These are just crazy conspiracy theories and scaring the population.
The Food Safety Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the same.
Following your inquiry, the legislation in the field of food safety in Bosnia and Herzegovina does not recognize the above claims. According to the Rulebook on the provision of information to consumers about food (“Official Gazette of BiH”, number 68/13), in the case of food that is quickly perishable from a microbiological point of view and after a short period of time may pose an immediate danger to human health, the minimum expiration date is replaced by the use-by date (“usable until”). After the use-by date, food is considered unhealthy in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of the Food Act. All food intended for supply to the end consumer or a public catering establishment must be accompanied by information about the food in accordance with this rulebook. Information about food must be such that it does not mislead the end consumer and the subject in the food business, especially concerning the characteristics of the food and its nature, type, properties, composition, quantity, duration, country of origin or place of origin, and the method or process of production.
Therefore, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is no legal possibility for expired milk to be on the market again.
The photo mentioned in the posts shows the Tetra Brik Aseptic packaging, produced by the Tetra Pak company. We contacted this company with an inquiry regarding the numbers listed on the bottom of the package. By the time of writing this analysis, we have not received an answer.
However, in an article published on the web portal Slovenske novice in June 2012, an explanation from the Tetra Pak company is given, which states:
At Tetra Pak, they print packaging on several strips at the same time, but for the purpose of traceability, the packaging is marked with numbers. For example: 12 45 indicates that this package was printed on the third strip in production.
Claims from social networks about returning expired milk to the shelves are, of course, completely unfounded. Since it is now impossible to determine where this claim was first published, all posts are rated as the distribution of fake news.