DAIRY PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY 

Milk has been used by humans since the beginning of recorded time to provide both fresh and storable nutritious foods. In some countries almost half the milk produced is consumed as fresh pasteurized whole, low-fat, or skim milk. However, most milk is manufactured into more stable dairy products of worldwide commerce, such as butter, cheese, dried milks, ice cream, and condensed milk.Dairy product, milk and any of the foods made from milk, including butter, cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and condensed and dried milk.

Dairy technology is a division of engineering that deals with the processing of milk and its products. Dairy technology study involves processing, storage, packaging, distribution and transportation of dairy products by implying the science of bacteriology, nutrition and biochemistry.

DAIRY PROCESSING 

Milk processing

Milk is a valuable nutritious food that has a short shelf-life and requires careful handling. Milk is highly perishable because it is an excellent medium for the growth of microorganisms – particularly bacterial pathogens – that can cause spoilage and diseases in consumers. Milk processing allows the preservation of milk for days, weeks or months and helps to reduce food-borne illness.

The usable life of milk can be extended for several days through techniques such as cooling (which is the factor most likely to influence the quality of raw milk) or fermentation. Pasteurization is a heat treatment process that extends the usable life of milk and reduces the numbers of possible pathogenic microorganisms to levels at which they do not represent a significant health hazard. Milk can be processed further to convert it into high-value, concentrated and easily transportable dairy products with long shelf-lives, such as butter, cheese and ghee.

Processing of dairy products gives small-scale dairy producers higher cash incomes than selling raw milk and offers better opportunities to reach regional and urban markets. Milk processing can also help to deal with seasonal fluctuations in milk supply. The transformation of raw milk into processed milk and products can benefit entire communities by generating off-farm jobs in milk collection, transportation, processing and marketing.

Milk processing involves the basic processes of storage, separation, homogenization and pasteurization. These processes also play a major role in yogurt, butter and cheese making. 

The process of yogurt production is described as typical for the preparation of fermented products. The use of different bacterial cultures, for example, or changing the sequence of the sub-processes produces semi-solid yogurt or drinking yogurt. 

Cheese products are also presented typically for all common varieties of cheese. Not every process is used for every product. Quark and cream 

cheese require pasteurization, for example, but these types do not undergo ripening. Again, for other sorts of cheese, such as pasta filata varieties, the cheese curd is subjected to a cooking and stretching process to obtain an elastic-textured cheese.

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