Category: Dairy technology

According to scientific research, ultra-high-temperature (UHT) processing and the subsequent ambient storage can cause significant biochemical changes to milk proteins. These alterations, which affect the whey and casein fractions, are critical to understanding the effects of UHT processing and storage on milk proteins and the product's overall quality and shelf-life.

Enzyme-modified cheese (EMC) and dairy ingredients are flavor concentrates with an intensity 15-30 times greater than their natural counterparts. The ingredients in enzyme modified dairy and cheese typically include a dairy substrate, water, emulsifying salts, and a proprietary blend of enzymes to accelerate and control flavor development.

Milk naturally contains small amounts of sodium and chloride, but the intentional addition of sodium chloride significantly alters its chemical and physical properties. These controlled changes are intentionally utilized in the dairy industry for applications ranging from preservation and flavor enhancement to influencing protein structure during cheesemaking. Understanding this complex interaction is crucial for modern food science.

Dairy products represent a significant global market, and ensuring their quality and safety hinges on precise compositional analysis, particularly of proteins. The analysis of milk proteins is a critical step for manufacturers, researchers, and regulatory agencies to determine nutritional value, detect potential adulteration, and predict the functional properties of milk and its derivatives.

Milk is typically subjected to heat treatment for safety reasons, but this process causes profound changes to its molecular structure. Understanding what happens to milk proteins when they are heated is key to explaining everything from the formation of milk skin to changes in flavor and texture.