The thickening and eventual gelation of UHT milk during storage, often referred to as ‘age gelation’, is a major factor limiting the shelf life of UHT milk (Datta and Deeth 2001).The pu blished information on the effect of calcium and cal-cium-chelating agents on age gelation in UHT milk is scant and somewhat confusing. Kocak and Zadow (1985) foundthat a ddition of 0.1 and 0.3% of TSC or EDTA (Na2)toaged raw milk before UHT processing accelerated the onsetof age gelation in the UHT milk. In contrast, addition ofSHMP at 0.05 and 0.01% markedly delayed age gelation,by up to 6-fold. The effect of SHMP differed from thatfound by Snoeren et al. (1979) that SHMP delayed gelation in UHT milk made from good quality milk (psychrotrophcount of 2.7 9 103/mL), but not in that made from poor quality raw milk (psychrotroph count of 2.06 9 106/mL).