What would this smell like? - (Oct/05/2010 )

Hi:

I posted something similar in the past. I apologize profusely if anyone is annoyed by what might seem like a repetition of that post. However, if you read carefully, you’ll clearly notice some significant differences.

My favorite bacteria are:

1. Not gram-negative
2. Free of lipopolysaccharide
3. Non-pathogenic
4. Non-toxic
5. Non-allergenic

In terms of respiration, they are any one of the following:

1. Facultative-anaerobes
2. Obligate anaerobes
3. Aerotolerant-anaerobes .

Let’s say the following Sci-Fi scenario occurs:

A sample of fresh, raw , annatto-free, preservative-free, carrageen-free, carrageenan-free, polysorbate-free, purely-natural, disease-free, completely-organic milk of a healthy happy Jersey cow is gently pumped into a hypothetical container that is eco-friendly, health-friendly, oxygen-free, air-tight, vibration-proof and does not let in any light of any wavelength when closed. The tubes connecting the cow’s udder to the container are also light-proof , eco-friendly, health-friendly, oxygen-free, air-tight, and vibration-proof.

At no point does any foreign object other than “my favorite bacteria” enter the milk. This is true even when the milk is in the cow’s udder. Even the skin of the cow’s udder is somehow completely free of any foreign substances other than “my favorite bacteria”.

In addition, the fat of this milk is magically-protected against any rancidity. In fact all molecules in the milk are completely rancidity-proof.

After the milk is pumped into the container, my favorite bacteria decompose this milk as completely as possible. They are able to do so because any lactic acid and carbon dioxide molecules completely disappear just as they are generated.

What will be the end product smell like? Remember, this milk is invincible to all forms of degradation except the decomposition and “aging” by my favorite bacteria. Because the lactic acid disappears as it is being produced, the milk does not curdle. My favorite bacteria can thus continue to eat the milk and spit out waste products until the decay is complete. To make matters more interesting, the bacteria are invincible to the otherwise toxic effects of the waste they produce.

My guess is that the end product will smell like extremely stale cheese. Am I on the right track?


Thanks,

Green Xenon

In this highly artificial and completely unrealistic approach, that you designed as you want, you can also predict the outcome as you want (or like). Almost everything is possible, though cheese is not probable, because you wrote that the bacteria can feed on the milk until it's completely gone...perhaps you'll have a mix of water, metabolic waste products (whatever they are, but after the milk is depleted, some bacteria will start feeding on other dead and/or living bacteria and energy-containing waste products) and the dead/living bacteria...