Processing of milk and dairy products

Dairy production and products

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.