The Hood LightBlock Bottle®

Hood and the Museum of Science, Boston

Hood Milk is partnering with the Museum of Science, Boston to explore the Science of Light and generate awareness for Hood's LightBlock Bottle®, which protects milk against compromised taste brought on by the effects of both natural and artificial light. Hood Milk and MOS collaborated to create fun experiments families can conduct at home using everyday items to learn more about how light affects different materials. The experiments will be featured in a live demonstration at the Museum of Science, Boston on May 15, 2021.

Science of Light Experiment

Keeping fresh foods, like milk, in the dark protects their taste. Sunlight as well as artificial light can cause chemical reactions. In fresh foods like milk, these chemical reactions can alter taste. Certain packaging materials like Hood's LightBlock Bottle are engineered to block most of this light which helps reduce chemical reactions in our food and protect the fresh taste.

Now that you know something about the light blocking properties of materials, you're ready to conduct your own at-home experiment using the LightBlock Bottle!

Click Here for Experiment Instructions

Mom, actress and former TV scientist Melissa Rauch is working with Hood to help spread the word about the benefits of Hood’s LightBlock Bottle and encourage families to try the Hood/Museum of Science, Boston experiments at home.

“As a mom of young children, I want to nourish my kids with food and beverages that help them thrive, and also taste delicious,” said Melissa Rauch, actress and Hood science program ambassador. “Hood knows that every glass and every drop of milk matters to families, so they protect their milk from the moment it leaves their hands to the moment it enters the fridge. The LightBlock Bottle is a signal of quality for me, and now it’s a fun way to help my kids learn a little bit about science together.”

Goodness worth protecting

At Hood®, we are committed to delivering high quality, fresh-tasting milk to your family. And the way we see it, that commitment doesn’t end when our milk is bottled.

That’s why we created the Hood LightBlock Bottle, to protect the fresh taste of our milk. So when you’re ready to pour, you can be sure you’re getting all the goodness of Hood.

Always good, all the way

Before your milk makes it to your glass or cereal bowl, it can be exposed to natural or artificial light: at the loading dock, on the brightly lit grocery store shelf, under the sun on the ride home, or even sitting on your kitchen counter. Research shows that all of this exposure can speed up the oxidation process and impact the flavor of your milk. That’s why we developed the Hood LightBlock Bottle.

Blocks +97% of light that can cause off-flavors

Most grocery stores use LED or florescent lighting, both of which can be absorbed by milk, and may impact its taste

Just a few hours of light exposure can cause light-oxidized flavors ¹

Protecting your milk from light

There’s a reason why it’s dark inside your fridge: light can impact the flavor of some of the foods inside, including nutrient-rich milk. Vitamin B2 found in milk can absorb light energy, which, in reaction with other elements like fat and protein, causes light-oxidized, or off-flavors, to develop through oxidation.

The Hood LightBlock Bottle uses technology that prevents more than 97% of light from penetrating the bottle, significantly reducing light-induced oxidation to help the milk maintain its fresh taste.

Committed to consistency

During production of the LightBlock Bottle, samples are routinely taken and analyzed to ensure the right amount of light blocking properties are at work.

LightBlock Bottle vs. clear bottle

After 24 hours of light exposure, experts detected that the intensity of light oxidized flavors for milk in a LightBlock Bottle were up to 3 times lower than milk in a clear bottle.

Upholding high standards

Hood uses a spectrophotometer, which measures the amount of light by wavelength that penetrates the bottle, to establish our light blocking standards.

1. W.S. Harwood, B.G. Carter, D.C. Cadwallader, and M.A. Drake. 2020. The role of heat treatment in light oxidation of fluid milk. J. Dairy Sci. 103(12):11244-11256.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, the Hood LightBlock Bottle is 100% recyclable and is recycled with #2 colored plastic containers in most communities throughout New England.

Research shows that when milk is exposed to light, it can cause off flavors to develop by a process called oxidation. Hood’s specially designed LightBlock Bottle uses technology that prevents more than 97% of light from penetrating the bottle, which protects the milk from light, helping to maintain its fresh taste.

There are many ways milk can be exposed to light, including: carrying milk home from the store, sitting on a countertop, on a store loading dock, or in the dairy case at a supermarket. The Hood LightBlock Bottle is made with pigment that prevents more than 97% of light from penetrating the bottle vs. only 27% in the clear bottle. So when you buy Hood Milk, you know your milk is being protected in the LightBlock Bottle.

Hood’s decision to use an opaque container was driven by our desire to better protect the fresh taste of the milk.