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Fermentation Atlas

Fermented milk from Worldwide

Set yoghurt (industrial)

Set yoghurt is milk soured by Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus in the cup it is sold in. The milk is standardised, homogenised and held at 90–95 °C, then filled with culture and left still for about 3 hours until it gels at about pH 4.5. Made in 5 steps over 4.2 h – 5.1 h. The longest step, incubate undisturbed in the cups, takes 3–3.5 h (Tetra Pak) and runs at 40–45 °C (Tetra Pak). Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–3.5 hReported[tp]Incubate undisturbed in the cups
Temperature40–45 °CReported[tp]Incubate undisturbed in the cups
Fully documentedFermented milk4.2 h – 5.1 hMore fermented milk

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceBC food-service standard recipe for 10 litres of milk. A factory line works to the same ratio of milk to milk solids, standardised in tanks (Tetra Pak).
10 LPasteurised milk · Fat 0.5–3.5 % is most usual in factory yoghurt[bc-yogurt][tp]
250 gSkim milk powder · Raises the solids for a firmer gel; dairies may evaporate the milk instead[bc-yogurt][tp]
As the culture maker directsYoghurt culture (S. thermophilus and L. bulgaricus) · The BC sample batch used 5 g of freeze-dried culture[bc-yogurt][cxs243]
Starterdefined-culture

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.2 h – 5.1 h

Start
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65–70 °C

What changes: Milk powder is mixed in and the fat is broken into tiny globules

Step 1 of 5
Standardise, deaerate and homogenise
Time
Not documented
Temperature
65–70 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
S. thermophilus
L. delbrueckii

Output: standardised, homogenised yoghurt milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
fat globules made smaller, so no cream layer forms in the cup
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

none added yet

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Set yoghurt ferments in its retail cup and is never stirred, so it keeps a firm gel. Stirred yoghurt ferments in a tank and is broken and cooled before filling. Home and village yoghurts such as kiselo mlyako start from a spoon of the last batch; this one uses a defined culture.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Stirred yoghurtFermented in a tank for 4–5 h at 42–43 °C to pH 4.2–4.5, then the gel is broken, cooled to 15–22 °C in a plate heat exchanger and filled. Creamy and pourable, not a gel.
  • Drinking yoghurtMade like stirred yoghurt, with the viscosity cut further after fermentation, often with a stabiliser.
  • Thermised and ambient yoghurtHeated after fermentation. Thermised at 60–70 °C for a few seconds, it keeps 1–2 months cold. Heat-treated and aseptically filled, it keeps at room temperature. Both kill the culture.
  • Probiotic yoghurtL. acidophilus, Bifidobacterium animalis or Lacticaseibacillus strains are added with the starter.

Safety

In the US the milk must be pasteurised before culturing, and yoghurt must reach pH 4.6 or lower within 24 hours of filling (21 CFR 131.200). BC guidance treats pH 4.6 as the critical limit, discards a batch that misses it 2 hours past the expected time, and cools to 20 °C within 2 hours and to 4 °C within 4 more hours.

Hazards the sources name: Spore-forming bacteria from the milk, if cooling to the culture temperature is slow.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Lactobacillus bulgaricus takes its name from Bulgarian yoghurt, where it was first described in the early 1900s. Factory set yoghurt follows the cup-set line described in the Tetra Pak handbook.

  1. [tp] Tetra Pak, Dairy Processing Handbook, chapter 13 Fermented milk productsbook
  2. [cxs243] Codex Alimentarius, Standard for Fermented Milks CXS 243-2003 (revised 2008, 2010)spec
  3. [cfr131200] US Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 131.200 Yogurtgov
  4. [bc-yogurt] FOODSAFE BC with the BC Ministry of Health, BCCDC and Fraser Health, Guidelines for the Production of Dairy Products in Food Establishments, Yogurt sample documentation, September 2022gov
  5. [wp] Wikipedia, Yogurt (history only)wiki