Industrial system to perform the microbiological control of UHT milk in carton-like packages by ultrasound

An industrial prototype developed to control the microbiological safety of packaged UHT milk is described. The method used consists basically of the continuous through-transmission measurement of the travel time and signal amplitude of an ultrasonic burst passing through the commercial carton-like packages - Tetrabrik, Combibloc-, each placed in individual thermostatized cavities. The changes in the velocity during the incubation can be correlated with the microorganisms growth. Previous studies made with a variety of milk types, milk containers and incubated microorganisms facilitate the mentioned correlation. The system, fully controlled by a computer, gives real-time information of the velocity and signal amplitude changes of each milk package.