Can adding just 1% water produce detectable changes in raw milk?

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Freezing point is used to assess the quality of whole raw milk and its products. This study aimed to determine how adding water affects raw milk’s freezing point, nutritional composition, urea content, somatic cell count and bacterial content.

The researchers conducted a two-stage controlled water-addition experiment. In the first stage, they collected 35 milk samples (80 mL) from Turrialba in Cartago and Zarcero in Alajuela in April and October 2018. They tested water additions of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30% by weight (w/w), along with an unadulterated control, with five replicates of each condition.

Adding 5% water by weight was enough to alter all the parameters assessed. In the second stage, the researchers tested lower water concentrations: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5% by weight.

They concluded that adding 1% water by weight produces significant changes in three parameters: freezing point, nutritional composition and somatic cell count.