Yogurt has always been a popular food for young and old. However, some parents believe that yogurt sold on the market commonly contains preservatives, thickeners and many other additives. As a result, many parents choose to make their own yogurt at home, and many others have bought yogurt machines on purpose. Is homemade yogurt safer than commercially available yogurt?

Reasonable use of additives do not have to worry too much

First of all, it should be clear that the milk is milk fermented by lactic acid bacteria, belonging to the fermented milk. The national standard allows the use of additives in fermented milk, which is the need of the production process. Moreover, the safety of additives are evaluated, as long as the use of reasonable limits, and will not be harmful to human health. So parents don't have to worry too much about yogurt containing additives.

Making your own yogurt at home, my yogurt my way, can certainly be done without additives. But that doesn't mean homemade yogurt is safer.

Homemade yogurt may not taste good

The basic principle of homemade yogurt is actually to inoculate the milk with lactic acid bacteria, so that it can reproduce (ferment) in large quantities at the right temperature (commonly 40℃-42℃) and break down the lactose in the milk into lactic acid. Because of the lactic acid produced during the fermentation process, the acidity of the fermentation solution gradually decreases, and by the time the pH reaches roughly 4.6 or so, the casein in the milk slowly settles down to form a delicate curd, and the viscosity of the overall solution increases, resulting in the formation of our favorite yogurt.

But it's also extremely easy to make homemade yogurt in half the time. Homemade yogurt needs to be fermented at 42°C to 45°C, which is the optimal growth temperature for a mixture of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. However, it is difficult to ensure such conditions for ordinary home-made yogurt, which is highly susceptible to the weather and uneven heating, and is prone to over-fermentation or under-fermentation, which ultimately also leads to the fact that the taste of homemade yogurt may not be very good, resulting in you spending a lot of time but not making a good tasting yogurt.

The biggest safety hazard is contamination by harmful bacteria

Homemade yogurt requires fermentation, and fermentation requires the involvement of microorganisms. Since there are also a lot of bacteria in the environment, we must sterilize the raw milk and fermentation utensils before fermentation takes place. However, it is easy for us ordinary people to make homemade yogurt in our home environment without being able to ensure strict sterilization conditions. Even if you boil the milk and sterilize all the utensils related to yogurt preparation in boiling water, you can easily be contaminated by other stray bacteria during the operation.

It is important to know that there are microorganisms everywhere in our nature, and other pathogenic bacteria are always waiting for the opportunity to move, once a little carelessness, such as containers containing yogurt or milk is not sterilized or we do not wash our hands clean before making yogurt, it is possible for yogurt to be mixed with other stray bacteria. This makes the "homemade yogurt" not only less healthy, but also a threat to your health.

Compared with home-made yogurt, industrially produced yogurt has to go through a rigorous process, in which sterilization is a very important step. The purpose of sterilization is to remove harmful bacteria that may be hidden in the raw milk and the environment to ensure safety.

How to drink safe yogurt?

How can I drink safe yogurt? In fact, the big brands of yogurt currently on sale in the market can generally be trusted. However, it should be reminded that consumers should try to go to large supermarkets and other formal channels to buy. In addition, yogurt bought home, to eat as soon as possible or put in the refrigerator to save.