Milk permeate

Milk permeate, a byproduct of milk processing, has emerged as a valuable ingredient with numerous benefits for the food industry. Comprising water, lactose, minerals, and vitamins, milk permeate serves as a versatile and cost-effective enhancer in various food products.

Milk permeate is a byproduct of milk processing that consists of the liquid portion of milk minus the proteins and fats. When milk is processed to produce products like cheese or butter, the proteins and fats are often separated from the liquid through various methods such as ultrafiltration or centrifugation. The remaining liquid, which contains lactose, minerals, and water-soluble vitamins, is known as permeate.

The simplicity of this process not only makes milk permeate a convenient ingredient for manufacturers but also ensures its cost-effectiveness, making it an attractive option for a wide range of food applications.

In food production, milk permeate plays a crucial role in enhancing flavor and texture, contributing to the overall quality of diverse products. Its inclusion also boosts the nutritional content, making it a valuable resource for creating healthier options. Whether incorporated into baked goods, beverages, or dairy products, milk permeate adds depth and richness to the final product.

Moreover, the use of milk permeate aligns with sustainability goals in the dairy industry. By repurposing a byproduct that would otherwise be considered waste, the industry minimizes environmental impact and reduces overall waste. This reflects a responsible approach to resource utilization, addressing concerns about sustainability and environmental stewardship.

In conclusion, milk permeate stands as a remarkable byproduct with significant benefits for the food industry. Its enhancement of flavor, texture, and nutritional content, coupled with a straightforward and cost-effective processing method, positions it as an invaluable ingredient. Additionally, its use contributes to sustainability efforts, making milk permeate a win-win solution for both manufacturers and the environment.
Milk permeate

Sour cream: Definition and fat content

Sour cream is a relatively heavy, viscous product with a glossy sheen. It has a delicate, lactic acid taste with a balanced, pleasant, buttery-like. American sour cream is heavier-bodied than its European counterpart owing largely to having the cream homogenized twice before being cultured.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines sour cream as follows: “Sour cream results from the souring, by lactic acid producing bacteria, of pasteurized cream. Sour cream contains not less than 18 percent milkfat; Sour cream has a titratable acidity of not less than 0.5 percent, calculated as lactic acid.”

Body and Texture: Shall be thick and smooth, uniform, free from lumps or graininess, and spoonable to a soft mound. Flavoring ingredients shall be consistent in size and distribution in the finished product.

Color and Appearance: Shall present a clean, natural color, with a smooth, velvety appearance. Natural color may range from a bright white to a light cream color.

Sour cream, also known as cultured cream, is produced by the fermentation of high pasteurized cream that contains 18–20% fat content. It is then homogenized at a low temperature, to promote formation of homogenization clusters. The starter cultures typically used for making sour cream are aromatic starters (i.e., Lc. lactis subsp. lactis biovar. diacetylactis and L. mesenteroides subsp. cremoris) similar to those used for cultured buttermilk.

Different types of sour creams exist that are defined based on fat content. Full-fat sour creams must have at least 18% milk fat and not less than 14.4% milk fat. Reduced-fat sour cream has a minimum fat reduction of 25%. Light or lite sour cream has a minimum of 50% fat reduction. Low-fat sour cream must contain 3 g or less fat per 50 g and 6% or less total fat. Nonfat sour cream must have less than 0.5 g of fat per 50 g of product and less than 1% total fat.

Sour cream is predominantly utilized as an accompaniment with warm entrees such as baked potatoes and burritos. This usage imposes certain demands on the sensory characteristics of the product, especially with regard to texture when in contact with warm surfaces. Sour cream must remain viscous without whey separation when placed on warm food.

Sour cream is frequently used as a base in dips and sauces. Traditionally, flavors such as onion and spinach have been popular. Currently, the trend is more diverse, with flavors ranging from apricot ginger to chipotle.
Sour cream: Definition and fat content

What is milk solid?

Milk is approximately 87 percent water and 13 percent solids. As it comes from the cow, the solids portion of milk contains approximately 3.7 percent fat and 9 percent solids-not-fat.

Milk fat carries the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. The solids-not-fat portion consists of protein (primarily casein and lactalbumin), carbohydrates (primarily lactose), and minerals (including calcium and phosphorus).

Solids-not-fat (SNF): proteins, lactose, minerals, acids, enzymes, vitamins. It is the total solids content minus the fat content.

Total Milk Solids: fat + SNF

The composition of milk is subject to changes due to numerous factors such as race, environmental conditions and health status of the mammary gland. Fat and protein are the components that tend to suffer greatest variations in milk even when in the same environmental conditions, and these variations are generally related to the nutrition and diet of animals.

Milk with high solids-not-fat is valuable to the consumer for its flavor and nutritional value and to the manufacturer of milk products, especially relating to cheese yield. Protein is the most important component of milk because of its nutritional value and its functional properties.
What is milk solid?

Why is it called hard cheese?

Natural hard cheeses get their taste, texture, and physical properties from high butterfat content, where the largest amount of fat and calories are contained.

A hard cheese, such as Cheddar, consists of roughly one-quarter protein, one-third fat and one-third water.

Hard cheeses are largely free of additives. Processed cheese on the other hand, contains a variety of additives such as dried milk powder emulsifiers and flavors.

As researchers have worked to reduce the butterfat content in hard cheese analogs, a decrease in flavor and in melting properties has also occurred. Lack of flavor is sometimes offset by adding herbs, peppers or smoke flavoring.

Natural hard cheese can be stored for extended periods but quality eventually deteriorates as the proteolytic and lipolytic activities in the curd become excessive. Storage life can be improved by processing. Decomposition of proteins and lipids results in a nutritionally defective product unsuitable for consumption.
Why is it called hard cheese?

What is imitation milk?

Imitation milks can be manufactured to resemble milk and be used in place of milk. These products resemble whole milk but contain no actual milk ingredients. They generally contain water, vegetable fats, corn sugar, starch, vegetable protein, sodium caseinate, and stabilizers, such as gums or alginates.

Vitamins and minerals may be added to the product to improve the nutritional value. Imitation milks usually do not taste like whole milk and often require the addition of flavorings.

An imitation milk product may look and taste like the traditional product, yet is nutritionally inferior. Specifying the term ‘imitational’ on labels is no longer a legal requirement.

Imitation milks are lactose-free and so are useful for people with lactase deficiency, but sometimes sodium caseinate and whey are added, which makes these products inappropriate for people with milk-protein allergies.

The vegetable fat, like milk fat, may be high in saturated fatty acids from coconut or palm oils used in the manufacture of these products.

Both imitation and filled milks are used as a basis for formulation of synthetic and semisynthetic of flavored milk drinks, ice cream, and other frozen desserts, butter, cream cheese, coffee cream, whipped cream, and other imitation dairy products.

All these products are processed, stored and distributed in a manner similar to that of the dairy products that they resemble. Coffee whiteners or lighteners are popular among consumers because of their excellent storage life. Such longevity is a distinct advantage to people who rarely use ice cream.
What is imitation milk?

Sweetened condensed milk

Sweetened condensed milks is an evaporated milk product containing added sugar. The milk intended for the retail market are packed in cans.

In canning sweetened condensed milk, care is taken to avoid condensation on the product surface which might raise the water activity (Aw) sufficiently to support yeast and mould growth in the event of contamination.

This product is not sterilized but is preserved by the high concentration of sugar which raises the osmotic pressure of the product to a level where it is microbiologically stable. The equipment is similar to that used for evaporated milk, except that sugar is added in a hot well before condensing (evaporating) the liquid.

After sugar addition, the milk is subjected to a heat treatment which not only acts as a pasteurization step but also inactivates most of the enzymes which might give rise to spoilage.

According to standards, sweetened condensed milk must contain a minimum of 8.5% fat and 28% total milk solids, including fat (fat to solids-not-fat ratio = 1:2:3). The final product contains 43-45% sugar.

The sugar confectionery industry is a major user, for the production of toffee, caramel and fudge. Toffees made from sweetened condensed milk are normally smoother than those made from milk powder: presumably the milk protein in sweetened condensed milk is in a less damaged form than in milk powder.

The low moisture content of sweetened condensed milk allows a reduction in boiling time and the possibility of hydrolysis of sucrose to fructose and glucose is avoided.
Sweetened condensed milk

What are the causes and symptoms of hypolactasia?

Milk is the only source of lactose, a disaccharide. Lactose is hydrolyzed to its monosaccharides, glucose and galactose, by a specific enzyme, lactase, which is β-galactosidase and located in the brush border of small-intestinal microvillus epithelial cells.

Hypolactasia is defined as lactase deficiency inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. Lactose intolerance is defined as symptomatic hypolactasia.

There are five causes of hypolactasia
*Congenital loss and it is very rare
*Inherited loss on weaning (very common)
*Gut infections such as rotavirus and Giardia
*Damage to the villi in the small intestine caused by radiotherapy or bacterial overgrowth
*Hormonal disturbances, menopause and aging

The symptoms are the result of lactose absorbing water in the intestine through osmotic mechanism, which speeds intestinal transport. Lactose is then metabolized by colonic bacteria producing lactic acid, hydrogen and CO2.

Among hypolactasia symptoms:
*Flatulence and meteorism
*Ill-defined abdominal pain
*Diarrhea

The symptoms start 1-2 hours after a lactose-containing meal and its depend on the amount of ingested lactose.

In children hypolactasia rarely develops before the age of 5 years. School-aged children often have milk-induced complaints associated with hypolactasia.

Hypolactasia occurs in 17% of Northern European inhabitants. It is more common in the Mediterranean are and much more common in many tropical countries.
What are the causes and symptoms of hypolactasia? 

Evaporated Milk

Evaporated milk, like sweetened condensed milk, was first developed in the early 19th century and have been available as a canned product for well over a century now.

Condensed and evaporated milk refer to the evaporation of water from milk which makes it more condensed or concentrated. However, in the retail trade, evaporated milk refers strictly to the canned concentrated milk that contains no added sugar.

Evaporated milk is a sterilized milk product containing a minimum of 9% fat and 22% solids-not-fat. Manufacturing process comprises of:

*Standardization – to achieve the required fat:NSF ratio, when normally whole milk is blend with skimmed milk

*Heat treatment – modern plants utilize higher temperature treatments. e.g 120 ° C with shorter holding ties, e.g. 2 min

*Evaporation - The milk is evaporated at low temperature (below 65 °C) to a solids level slightly in excess of that require in the final product.

*Homogenization – necessary to distribute the milkfat, preventing coalescence during in-container sterilization and separation during shelf-life.

*Stabilization and standardization

*Filling and sterilization Though use of evaporated milk has coffee whitener has decline, there is still merit in checking its color reaction and miscibility in coffee. Evaporated milk should impart a rich, golden-brown color to coffee.
Evaporated Milk

Italian ricotta cheese

Ricotta is an unripened soft cheese that originated from Italy. Like cottage cheese ricotta cheese is a high moisture cheese. Originally, ricotta was produced from whey derived from mozzarella or provolone cheese production. In Latin American and the Hispanic communities in North America, Ricotta is known as Requeson.

Ricotta is now prepared from whole milk with or without addition of whey. When made from blend of 95% sweet whey and 5% milk, ricotta contains 68-73% moisture 16% protein, 4-10% fat and 4% lactose.

Whole milk is added to make fresh ricotta, while skim milk is used to produce dry ricotta, which is usually used for grating.

Ricotta has a bland to slightly cooked but pleasing flavor. Its texture is soft, mild semisweet and creamy.

Ricotta cheese in addition to being an acceptable product itself, has many applications, including use as a base for whipped dairy desserts, cream cheese, and pasteurized processed cheese product and use in confectionary fillings and cheesecake.

Ricotta cheese also may be used in dips, spreads and traditional Italian dishes like lasagna and manicotti. Ricotta has a relatively short shelf-life about 3 weeks of properly packaged and stored at 4 °C or lower.
Italian ricotta cheese

Grade A pasteurized milk and milk product

This is Grade A raw milk which has been pasteurized in accordance with the regulations of the US Public Health Service Pasteurized Milk Ordinance and Code. Such milk must meet all the regulations, pasteurization confirmation tests, and sanitary requirements for this grade.

Temperature
Cooled to 45 ° C or less and maintained thereat

Total bacterial count
Milk and milk products < 20000 per ml

Coliform count
Not exceeding 10 per ml: provided that in the case of bulk milk transport tank shipment, shall not exceed 100 per ml.

Phosphatase
Less than 1 mg per ml, by Scharger Rapid method (or equivalent by other means)

Antibiotics
No detectable zone by Sarcina lutea Cylinder Plate Method or equivalent.
Grade A pasteurized milk and milk product 

Milk definition

Milk is one of the few foodstuffs consumed without further processing, and it is generally regarded as the most perfect food.

Milk is the whole, fresh, clean, normal lacteal secretion of the mammary glands for the feeding of the young of mammals. In the United States, the primary milk in commerce is cow’s milk.

Dairy products account for around 27% of the value of production and 4% of agricultural export earnings. Technological change, economies of scale and increased productivity have led to a large concentration of production: 5% of all dairy farms (those with more than 500 cows) supply 60% of all milk produced in the United States..

The responsibility for insuring the quality of this food product rests primarily with the individual states rather than the federal government.

The following definitions from its Grade A Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (1965) has been adopted by a majority of the states:

Milk is hereby defined to be lacteal secretion, practically from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cow, which contains not less than 8.25 milk solids non-fat and not less than 3.25% milk fat.

Dairy processors are increasingly using milk as a raw material from which individual component can be extracted. Processors are refining raw milk and isolating its individual components in a manner analogous to the refinement of crude petroleum into its various individual component products.
Milk definition 

Mastitis in dairy cattle

Mastitis is defined as an inflammation of the mammary gland. The inflammation is a response of the tissue to injury.

The purposes of the inflammatory response are to destroy or neutralize the injuries agent and allow healing and return to normal function.

It is the most common and costly infectious disease in dairy cattle world-wide. It induces economic costs, mainly consisting of discarded milk, increased health care costs and reduced milk quality.

Mastitis also contributes to consumer concerns regarding animal welfare and regarding the impact of use of antibiotics in animals on efficacy of antibiotics for human health and the possible development of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Estimates indicate that only 25% of all mastitis losses are associated with cases where the milk is visually abnormal, known as clinical mastitis. Most dairy farms experience a 25-40% incidence of clinical mastitis on an annual basis.

The causative bacteria can be categorized as major or minor pathogens. The most common major pathogens include Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, the coliforms, and streptococci and enterococci of environmental origin.

Successful control of mastitis is dependent on effective defection, accurate diagnosis evaluation of appropriate treatment options, and implementation of preventive practices that address herd-specific risk factors associated with exposure to mastitis pathogens.
Mastitis in dairy cattle

Italian blue cheese - Gorgonzola cheese

Gorgonzola is a soft blue cheese of Italy. It has been made since the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century.

It became marbled with greenish blue mold only in the eleventh country. Gorgonzola was originally aged in caves and the blue veins of mold developed from spores naturally present in the caves.

Its creamy-textured blue, produced from cow’s milk in the lush and of Lombardy in the north Italy, where it’s used extensively in all sorts of cooking, an essential ingredients in dozens of dishes.

It is notably creamy and mild, with a luscious texture that compensates for its lack of complexity. 

Gorgonzola cheese should be specially rich in fat. To a very large extent this milk is produced by small owners of cows, who manufacture the cheese but do not perfect or ripen it, selling it to merchants for this purpose, who in turn finishes the process in the cellars and caves which they own.

Although there are younger cheeses available, a good Gorgonzola naturale will have been aged at least ninety days. Even longer aging – sometimes for more than a year - is also likely to lead to more flavorful cheeses. 

About sixty different producers – some large, some small – make Gorgonzola so quality can vary.

Younger chees are sold as Gorgonzola dolce, while longer-aged cheeses are sold as Gorgonzola naturale or Gorgonzola picante.
Italian blue cheese - Gorgonzola cheese

What is yoghurt?

Among all the fermented milk products, yoghurt is the best known in the world. It can be considered to be most popular within fermented milks characterized as a smooth and viscous gel with delicate consistency and flavor.

The CFR 131.200 defined yoghurt is the food produced by culturing one or more optional dairy ingredients with a characterizing bacterial culture that contains the lactic acid-producing bacteria, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus.

Optional dairy ingredients are described as cream, milk, partially skimmed milk, or skim milk, used alone or in combination.

The general goal of yoghurt production is to create a semisolid long shelf-life food from perishable, fluid milk. Development and retention of the appropriate texture is critical to good yoghurt quality.

Yoghurt mix preparation, fermentation conditions, and post-fermentation handling all have a great impact on product texture.

The most widely used classification, refers to the gel structure as set, stirred or fluid. The firm yoghurt should have consistency firm enough to be spooned and its texture should be thin and smooth with no lumps or granulates and without cracks.
What is yoghurt?

What is condensed milk?

Condensed milk is cow’s milk from which water has been evaporated. It is most often found in the form of sweetened condensed milk, with sugar added, and the two terms ‘condensed milk’ and ‘sweetened condensed milk’ are often used synonymously today.

This product is not sterilized but is preserved by the high concentration of sugar which raises the osmotic pressure of the product to a level where it is microbiological stable.

Sugar usually is scores, is dissolved in the milk before evaporation to give a total sugar content of 55%-60%. Highly refined granulated sugar is normally used.

Sweetened condensed milk is very thick, sweet product which when canned can last for years without refrigeration if unopened.

Manufacturer of toffee, caramel and fudge are the major user of sweetened condensed milk.

The low moisture content of sweetened condensed milk allows a reduction in boiling time, and the possibility of hydrolysis of sucrose to fructose and glucose is avoided.

The milk-fat in sweetened condensed milk contributes a unique flavor to toffees, caramels and fudges as well as providing characteristics texture and palate lubrication.

Sweetened condensed milk for industrial used is either filled into drums (250 kg) or is delivered in road tankers.
What is condensed milk?

Milk in General

Milk in General
Milk is the first food of young mammal produced by the mammary glands of female mammals.

It is the mixture of fat and high quality protein in water and contains some carbohydrate (lactose), vitamins, and minerals.

Milk and milk products may be obtained from different species such as goats and sheep.

While fluid milk contains a very large percentage of water, it may concentrated to form evaporated milk and cheese, yogurt or in soups and sauces.

By law, milk and milk product must contain a designated percent of total milk solids (all of the component of milk except water) and also the milk solids, not fat (all of the components of milk solids not include fat).

The butterfat component of milk is the most expensive component of milk and its level determines if milk offered for retail sale as whole milk or at some lesser percentage of fat such as 2% milk, ½% or fat free.

Milk may be cultured, dried, fortified, homogenized or pasteurized and used to create products with different taste texture nutritive, value, and shelf life.

It may be processed into products such as buttermilk, cheese, cream, ice milk, ice cream, sour cream and yogurt with different levels of fat content.

Dried milk is added to a multitude of foods. It may be added to foods to increase the protein or calcium value.

High temperatures may curdle milk: therefore care must be taken in the preparations of foods with milk. Milk requires safe handling and old storage.

Milk is not well tolerated by a large portion of the population. The milk sugar, lactose, is not digested by persons lacking the enzyme lactase.
Milk in General

Definition and Nutritional Values of Milk

Definition and Nutritional Values of Milk
Milk is the normal secretion of the mammary glands for the feeding of the young of mammals. In the United States, the primary milk in this food products rest primarily with the individual states rather than with the federal government. Consequently, legal definitions of milk are not uniform within the United States. The U.S Public Health Service has encouraged the adoption of adequate and uniform state and local control registration. The following definition from its Grade A Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (1965) has been adopted by a majority of the states.

“Milk is hereby defined to be the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows, which contains not less than 8.25% milk solids not fat and not less than 3.25% milk fat.”

The composition of milk is rather complex. Of the major components of milk, the one that most readily distinguishes milk from other foods is lactose, which occurs naturally only in milk. Similarly, casein occurs in milk. The proteins of milk are great importance and contribute essential amino acids necessary for normal health and growth. Milk fat is a palatable mixture of glycerides of fatty acids. The components are in the complex equilibrium, and much is yet to be learned regarding the forms and combinations in which they exist. Lactose and some mineral salts are in the true solutions; the milk proteins as well as some of the calcium phosphate exist in colloidal solution; the fat exists in macroscopic dispersion in the milk plasma. Besides these major constituent, milk contains other constituents such as vitamin, enzymes, pigments and lactic acid.
Definition and Nutritional Values of Milk