An evolution of technology, products and applications

Centuries ago, man observed that drying in the sun could naturally extend the shelf life of grains and other foodstuffs. Marco Polo, in the 13th century, is reported to have carried dried milk on his trips. Based on these observations man learned to commercialise this process for vegetables and later for dairy foods and ingredients. Nicolas Appert, in the early 1800’s, discovered that milk could be reduced to a third of its volume by evaporation. Later, Gail Borden developed a process for condensing milk by using a partial vacuum to remove moisture from milk and result in a much better flavoured product than by boiling at atmospheric pressure. Because of the perishable nature of milk products, work in the 19th century and subsequently during World War II continued to focus on preservation of this valuable food source. As a result drum drying and spray drying were developed and used extensively for production of milk powders.

Technology, Science, and Ingredient Innovation

With industrialisation booming after World War II, productivity became the focus and innovations to improve the efficiency of vacuum evaporation and spray drying processes occurred. Other innovative processes were being developed which would lay the foundation for new lines of dairy ingredients. For example, in the mid 1900’s, Peebles developed a “rewet” process by which milk powders could be “instantised”. This then allowed for the development of convenient, easy to use, readily dispersible consumer products made with instantised milk powders.

During this period, there was better recognition of the influence of process technology on the performance of dairy ingredients. While it was not fully understood, empirical measures designed to help end users of these concentrated and dried ingredients were being developed and used to specify and classify dairy ingredients to form the basis of communication and commerce between suppliers and end users. Simple methods for assessment of solubility, dispersibility, heat treatment, scorched particles, etc. were established. Functional properties such as emulsification, foaming, gelation, and viscosity were being explored and better understood. The resulting improved quality enhanced the utilisation of dried dairy ingredients like whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, and non-fat dried milk. As cheese production continued to grow, so did scale of operation. Some cheesemakers began to recover solids from whey via concentration and drying into whole whey powder and spawned the beginning of a new line of “whey based” dairy ingredients. Several key developments occurred but when the development of asymmetric cellulose acetate membranes was realised for reverse osmosis systems in the early 1960’s and subsequently developed for ultra-filtration processes, whey protein concentrates were now technically feasible.

Concomitantly, product research was fueling the basis for new ingredients that could help address the growing number of consumers looking for new convenient foods to meet their changing lives. Globally, milk based dairy ingredients were being introduced into regions of the world where fresh milk was limited or not available. Reconstituted or recombined dairy foods provided a key source of nutrition for millions.

During this period other developments and applications of existing technologies lead to commercialisation of many other dairy ingredients including: caseinates, lactose, modified whey products, buttermilk powders, and dried cream products.

These developments took the dairy ingredient industry from first generation dried “whole” products to second generation value added major milk fractions that were more tailored dairy ingredients with specific functionality. This tailored functionality has continued today. Processors continue to work towards designing dairy ingredients that meet the demanding expectations of end users for specific and often challenging functional properties.

Today and the Future

Innovations in our understanding of separation science and technology have fuelled a new third generation of dairy ingredients that reflect purified fractions, individual milk proteins and other milk components being produced and marketed for specific uses. This continues to be driven by consumers’ desire, hence the food industry’s desire for value added foods (and thus ingredients with which to make such products). However, the driver of this new line of dairy ingredients is beyond convenience, taste, and basic nutrition.

Recent scientific evidence associated specific milk components with health and wellness. Specific dairy ingredients are now in demand because they are associated with health benefits like: improved immunity, healthy weight loss, lean body mass and anti-hypertension. Individual milk proteins, bioactive peptides, and phospholipid fractions are being studied and now promoted for their health benefits in a wide range of food products. Nonetheless, consumers continue to desire and eat a wide range of foods for pleasure. Hence, while nutrition and health provide motivation for a new family of foods utilising dairy ingredients, there will continue to be a need to have innovative science and technology to enhance the quality and consistency of these ingredients for their use in traditional dairy foods and other food products for product taste and functionality. Without such innovation in the mainstream dairy and other food products, alternative ingredients will make inroads into product applications that have traditionally been for milk and whey based dairy ingredients.

While it may be debatable as to what the critical factors were which lead to the many innovations in dairy ingredients over the years, it is not disputed that the knowledge, tools and experience gained through science and technology was a key element to the successful evolution of milk into the array of dairy ingredients available in the marketplace today. Initially preservation was the driver of dairy ingredient development (in part motivated by the desire to travel with a relatively convenient, light weight source of milk). Industrilisation brought about a food industry that demanded better quality and ingredient performance parameters. With a more sophisticated consumer marketplace came increased customisation and tailoring of ingredient functionality. Health and wellness has now opened new opportunities to couple science and technology for a new generation of “good for you” dairy foods and dairy ingredients.

References

Hall, C and Hedrick, T.I. 1971. Drying of Milk and Milk Products, 2nd Edition, AVI Publishing, Company, Inc., Westport, CT.

Glover, F.A. 1984. Ultrafiltration and Reverse Osmosis for the Dairy Industry, Technical Bulletin 5, National Institute for Research in Dairying, Reading, England.

Handbook of Dairy Foods and Nutrition, Second Edition, 1999. National Dairy Council, Gregory D. Miller, Judith k Jarvis, Lois D McBean, CRC Press LLC, Danvers, MA.