Research on donkey milk · Study 77

Three temperatures, three times: short-time heating of donkey milk

An Italian team heated donkey milk in a small continuous-flow unit to 75, 85 or 92 °C – for 3, 6 or 12 seconds each. They measured how much lysozyme, β-lactoglobulin and B vitamins remained in the milk afterwards.

Important: A food technology laboratory study with milk analysis. It does not examine any effect of donkey milk in humans and gives no recommendation on heating.

Experimental unit · runs automatically

60 litres an hour through the plates

Key findings · tap a field

Nine heat treatments, one comparison with raw milk

Lysozyme
β-lactoglobulin

Circle area = measured amount relative to raw milk (lysozyme 1.17 g/L, β-lactoglobulin 3.43 g/L). Rows: temperature, columns: holding time. Values as mean ± standard deviation from the paper.

Further measurements

How far the values fell

010203040506070 %

B2 · riboflavinB3 · nicotinic acidB6B9 · folic acidB1 not detectableB12 not detectable

Bars: range of decrease compared with raw milk across all nine heat treatments, as stated in the paper. ABTS, FRAP and SH groups are laboratory tests for reducing or radical-scavenging properties – laboratory measurements, not effects. For the four measurable B vitamins, the authors found no significant decrease.

Critical assessment

The rating plate of the study

Study 77 · test data

Sample

One batch

One pooled milk from 120 Martina Franca jennies, taken once in February 2019. No comparison across seasons or farms.

Figures

Slight contradictions

β-lactoglobulin: 2–22 % decrease in the abstract, 2–25 % in the results section. For the polyphenols, units and percentages do not quite match.

Limitation

No process verification

Whether the heat treatments achieve their technical goal was not checked – there was no enzyme test and no microbiological examination.

Statistics

Little significance

For β-lactoglobulin, according to the table, only three variants differed clearly from raw milk: 85 °C/12 s, 92 °C/6 s and 92 °C/12 s.

Unit

Small unit

60 L per hour in the university laboratory. How this transfers to larger plants is open – the authors call the results preliminary.

Interests

None declared

No conflicts of interest, no funding named. One author works for a regional breeders’ association (ARA Campania).

Editorial assessment: The study reports what remains measurable in the milk after different heat treatments. We do not derive a recommendation for or against heating from it. For comparison: Study 19 (gently heated donkey milk) and Study 58 (verification of pasteurisation).

Research question for DON DONKEY’S®

Which measurements belong in a transparent analysis of donkey milk?

The study shows how differently sensitive individual components such as lysozyme or B vitamins are to processing. Which values we will have determined in the laboratory in future and show openly is a question we are following up.

Measure lysozymeCompare with Studies 19 and 58Several seasons

Original publication

Effect of continuous flow HTST treatments on donkey milk nutritional quality

Original title of the publication.

Matera A., Altieri G., Genovese F., Polidori P., Vincenzetti S., Perna A., Simonetti A., Rashvand Avei M., Calbi A., Di Renzo G. C.
LWT – Food Science and Technology · 2022 · volume 153, article 112444 · full text via the University of Camerino repository
University of Basilicata (Potenza), University of Camerino (Matelica), ARA Campania (Caserta), Italy

DOI: 10.1016/j.lwt.2021.112444

Transparency: no funding named in the paper. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Thanks are given to a regional breeders’ association and to the farm in Laterza (Apulia) that supplied the milk. No product-related statement for DON DONKEY’S®.

Summarised and reviewed by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team on the basis of the original publication · as of October 2026

End of the study summary

Note on our products

The study summarised above was carried out independently of DON DONKEY’S® and does not relate to our products. It serves solely to inform about the state of research.

DON DONKEY’S® donkey milk and donkey milk powder are foods. They are not intended to prevent, treat or cure any disease and do not replace medical advice.

From our shop

DON DONKEY’S® donkey milk

100 % donkey milk · raw milk, frozen

On this page we present the findings of a published study. Independently of that, you will find our donkey milk here: 100 % donkey milk, frozen as raw milk.

Transparency: The study briefly heated pooled milk from a farm in southern Italy – not the milk of our partner farms. Our donkey milk is not heated in this way.

€24,90

100 ml bottle / 100ml · Unit price: €249,00 / 1 l · incl. VAT, plus shipping

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Also in our shop

DON DONKEY’S® donkey milk powder

Donkey milk in powder form · freeze-dried

For anyone who prefers it longer-lasting: our donkey milk in powder form, freeze-dried – easy to store and portion.

Transparency: The study heated liquid donkey milk, not our donkey milk powder.