Response to Friend and Perrin re: “The Effect of Processing Donor Milk on Its Nutrient and Energy Content”

Dear Editor:

We would like to respond to the letter from Friend and Perrin ¹ sent regarding our article “The Effect of Processing Donor Milk on Its Nutrient and Energy Content.” ²

Before milk processing, the milk was thawed at 4°C to make sure it was in complete liquid status. The storage bags were gently shaken to mix the milk evenly. The milk from one donor was pooled together and divided into batches of 960 mL each. After stirring with glass stick, 10 mL (sample A) (before pasteurization) was poured from the batch. The remaining batch was divided into eight bottles of ∼120 mL, and then pasteurized (62.5°C, for 30 minutes) and cooled to room temperature. One bottle was used for microbiological and nutritional analysis (10 ml sample B), and another 10 ml was frozen for 3 months (sample C). The samples were measured with the infrared human milk analyzer (MIRIS HMA, Uppsala, Sweden). Before nutritional tests, the milk sample was warmed to 40°C in a water bath, and was homogenized for 8–10 seconds twice, using an ultrasonic vibrator (Miris), and a 2 mL milk sample was extracted and analyzed.