I’m specifically drinking Dunkin Donuts bottled iced coffee. It says it contains skim milk in the ingredients list.
In: Chemistry
Things are often more than the sum of their parts.
When you have a bottle of fresh milk, it contains just that: Milk.
Milk has a spoilage time/expiration date because of the properties of milk.
When you have a pre-packaged bottled iced coffee product like the one you mention it’s got some milk in it, but if you look at the ingredients there are a host of other things in there. Not only the fact that the milk is in solution with the rest of it, was likely UHT pasteurized (pasteurized at ultra high temperatures which normally affects the taste, but since it’s mixed in the drink doesn’t matter), and that also some of those ingredients themselves are preservatives, all lend to the ability for that product as a whole to last much longer before expiration.
In this case:
https://puu.sh/EGn0E/7e512f65ca.png
The Potassium Phosphate is specifically added to extend shelf life of the product.
https://puu.sh/EGn1x/a72dd6c699.png
Although I’m not familiar with the brand ingredients, it’s entirely possible that the milk in your iced coffee has gone through the ultra-high temperature (UHT) process to increase the longevity of the product.
This process sterilises liquid by heating to 275F, killing bacteria endospores which otherwise would spoil the milk sooner. Milk treated in this way will have a shelf life of 6-9 months and can be left unrefrigerated.
Because the coffee product has been [UHT pasteurized](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_processing) which super-duper kills off anything that could be alive in there that would cause it to go bad. Normal milk isn’t UHT pasteurized because it changes the flavor of the milk for the worse, but you don’t usually notice this when it’s been mixed in to coffee.
Because it isnt actually milk in the coffee- it’s often a dairy free and condensed version in the ones that last months.
Most bottled iced coffees do not last that long so I wonder what else they’re putting in that one
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