milk

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Dairy industries use milk to produce a wide variety of processed products, including fluid milk, cream, butter and fermented dairy products like cheese and yogurt. Relative to other food sectors, dairy industries produce substantial environmental footprints at all steps of the value chain, from the production of feed for dairy cows to the distribution of milk and milk products. For instance, cheese is associated with a greenhouse gas emission of 5.9kg CO2 equivalents/kg, compared to 0.17kg CO2 equivalents/kg for peanut butter.
However, the dairy industries have made significant efforts in utilizing the by-products of milk product and processing, yielding both economic benefits and a reduction in wastage. In particular, skim milk, a by-product of cream separation, and whey, a by-product from cheese production, have received much attention due to their high commercial value. This paper discusses the efficient and effective conversion of milk production and processing by-products into valuable ingredients
Skim milk is obtained as a by-product of cream separation from whole milk. Due to its negligible fat content (0.02%, compared to 4.0% in whole milk) and hence unpalatability, skim milk was previously considered unsuitable for human consumption and hence used as an animal feed, the advent of spray drying led to its wide utilization as skim milk powder; the process allows for shelf life extension and economical transportation due to the reduction in weight and volume. Skim milk powder has been incorporated into many processed food products such as soups, sauces, bakery and confectionery products, and recombined evaporated milk. A wide range of milk protein products can also be produced from skim milk by varying the processing conditio...

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... with lactic acid bacteria (e.g. Lactococcus lactis subsp. Lactis) and aroma-producing culture (e.g. Leuconostoc cremoris).
Methods have been developed to produce lactic butter without yielding acidic buttermilk, which has little market value in comparison to sweet buttermilk. In the NIZO process, a lactic starter permeate is worked into sweet butter after churning, leading to production of sweet buttermilk that is highly resistant to autoxidation.
Buttermilk has been found to possess potential health benefits. It is abundant in biologically active membrane-derived lipids (e.g. anticarcinogenic and anticholesterolemic), such as glycosphingolipids and gangliosides. Proteins in milk fat globular membranes (e.g. butyrophilin) have also been found to possess anticancer and antimicrobial properties, and may play a role in some diseases like autism and multiple sclerosis.

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