439 Indian J. Dairy Sci. 65(5), 2012 INTRODUCTION ndian council for medical research has recommended a daily allowance of 3200, 4800 and 6400 μg/day for children, adult men/women and pregnant women respectively (ICMR, 2010). Majority of the people, with their low intake of vegetables and fruit, are probably getting closer to 1 mg per day. Pasteurised flavoured milk prepared with a combination of carrot juice and cardamom had highest sensory acceptance (Ramasamy et al., 2001). Kumaresan et al. (2008) reported that the carotene content of the carotene enriched milk drink was stable during pasteurisation and there was no significant reduction of carotene content for period of 7 days at 5 o C. Ramasamy et al., (2005) tried different combination of sterilized flavoured milk and showed that the colour, flavour and sensory acceptability of sterilized carotene enriched milk drink prepared with 5% carrot juice, 0.2% cardamom and 10% sugar was stable for a period of 6 months. In this study, an attempt has been made to prepare flavoured milk drink that satisfies the ICMR daily recommended allowance of β-carotene levels. Further, the stability of β- carotene in the sterilized carotene enriched flavoured milk stored at room temperature for a period 3 months was also studied. Fresh carrot was obtained from the vegetable market and washed with water and juice was extracted. Toned milk was supplemented with carrot juice at 5, 7.5 and 10 and 12.5% levels. Sugar was added at the level of 10%. Cardamom was added as flavouring agent. Finely ground cardamom seeds were added after mixing with minimum quantity of sugar for easy grinding (@ 0.1% of the milk). The milk was heated to 80 o C and homogenised at 2500 and 500 psi (two stages), filled in beverages bottle and closed with ground cork machine. These bottles are placed in the autoclave for 20 mins at 15 psi. The samples were stored at room temperature (28 ± 2 o C) inside a wooden shelf (dark storage) and on the display rack (light storage), simulating normal retail storage conditions. After sterilisation the flavoured milk samples were evaluated once in 15 days for a period 3 months for various sensory attributes such as colour, flavour and acceptability by a panel of 7 trained judges using 9 point hedonic scale where 9 was extremely good and 1 was extremely poor. The β -carotene content of flavoured milk was estimated by the modification of method described by Sherry and Penniston (2002), where the β- carotene is monitored at 450nm. The values obtained were statistically analysed as per the procedure of Snedecor and Cochran (1967). Stability of Stability of Stability of Stability of Stability of β -carotene in Sterilized Flavoured Milk -carotene in Sterilized Flavoured Milk -carotene in Sterilized Flavoured Milk -carotene in Sterilized Flavoured Milk -carotene in Sterilized Flavoured Milk * College of Food and Dairy Technology, Alamathi Post, Koduvalli, Chennai 52, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University 2012-072 Received:April 2012; Accepted:October 2012 D. Ramasamy, A.Manoharan, K.Sudha, and C.Prabakaran Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai. An attempt has been made to standardize the preparation of sterilized flavoured milk satisfying the daily recommended intake of β β β-carotene. Flavoured milk enriched with 5, 7.5, 10 and 12.5% levels of carrot juice with 0.1% cardamom and 10% sugar was studied for their sensory acceptance. The expert panel rejected the 12.5% enrichment which had lowest sensory acceptance. The accepted levels of enrichment (5, 7.5 and 10% levels) were further studied for the β β β-carotene content and stability of ?-carotene for a period of 3 months under light and dark storage conditions. Results of the study indicated that only negligible loss of β β β-carotene was observed during this period in all three enrichment levels. Sterilized flavoured milk enriched with 5%, 7.5% and 10% carrot juice of 200ml servings were found suitable for satisfying the RDA for β β β-carotene to children, adult men/women and pregnant woman respectively. Keywords: Sterilized flavoured milk, β β β-carotene, storage stability Research Article I