The Physico-chemical and Sensory Properties of Milk with Water Soluble Chitosan

Attempts were made to evaluate possibilities of adding water soluble chitosan to milk for improving functionality of milk, and physico-chemical and sensory properties of chitosan added milk were studied. pH and acidity of milk with ethyl alcohol washed chitosan were close to those of control. Color and consistency of chitosan added milk were better with chitosan of lower molecular weight than with high molecular weight. Chitosan of high molecular weight resulted in increased consistency and browning of milk. Milk with less than 1.0% chitosan could be sterilized at for 15 sec. with minimum protein coagulation and increase of consistency. Low molecular weight chitosan accelerated the growth of Bifidobacterium bifidum, showing 10 times more cell population after 32 hrs incubation. Sensory tests showed that adding chitosan to the regular city milk resulted in significant difference in color and chemical off-flavor(p, but changed rapidly after 16days storage at . Bacterial counts increased when storage temperature was high, and the growth of bacteria was delayed in coffee milk with chitosan.