Any unsealed product must be reprocessed, frozen or refrigerated within 24 hours. It is not safe to assume that all boxed and canned goods may be held at room temperature. Almost all milk is pasteurized these days. Pasteurization is a mild heating process that kills pathogenic micro-organisms in milk. While immunization and testing of cows in this country has virtually eradicated many diseases, there are still many avenues by which bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms enter milk.
Pasteurization is by far the most reliable safeguard.
Several serious disease outbreaks in recent years have been traced to raw milk or raw milk products. Some of the pathogenic microorganisms involved were campylobacter jejuni , salmonella sp. and listeria monocytogenes . Very simply, this system is designed to ensure food safety by reducing the likelihood of foodborne illness. This is accomplished by identifying the places and procedures in which food could become unsafe during food handling, preparation and storage. Then steps are taken to control these points to assure the safety of the food.