Concentrated and Dried Milk Products

Abstract

Concentrated and dried milk product represent both traditional and novel forms of dairy ingredients all with the common denominator of reduced water content. This reduction in water provides numerous benefits such as increased shelf life, reduction in shipping costs, and few storage requirements, i.e., storage at ambient room temperature. Yet there are multiple concerns with products so altered that must be considered to preserve optimal functional performance, nutritional density, and consumer acceptance. Common on this list of concerns are changes that result from the handling and storage parameters that in turn potentiate or catalyze deleterious reactions. Deprived of some fraction of water present in the native state, labile components of dried dairy ingredients, such as protein and milkfat, are altered or denatured rendering them more susceptible to reaction pathways thought to cause discernable damage. Further, the very process of water removal can simply concentrate some off-flavor-inducing compounds to the degree that their sensory impact is potentiated or more discernable to trained examination relative to the native milk. Reaction pathways of concern in concentrated dairy ingredients are mostly common to dairy products and include oxidative processes of susceptible components such as milkfat, Maillard reactions involving reducing sugars and nitrogen-bearing moieties that produce flavor and color changes as well as more macro-scale reactions that alter functional properties such as flow and solubility. Yet, for a long list of needed applications, concentrated and dried dairy ingredients will continue to play a significant role on the flexibility and sustainability of the food manufacturing industry. This chapter is designed to aid the reader to gain skills to determine the presence and potential origin of defects manifest in concentrated and dried dairy ingredients as a means of assigning functional and economic value.

Graphical Abstract