Altering Milk Composition – An Introduction

Abstract Recent trends in milk production and consumption clearly indicate 1) consumer concern about health implications of animal fat and an increased demand for “light” or low fat products, 2) more milk is used for manufacturing cheese and other dairy products, 3) strong interest for standards of identity with higher nonfat solids in fluid milk products, and 4) multicomponent milk pricing systems, depending on how milk is utilized. It is well-recognized that composition, yield, and quality of cheese are dependent on milk composition. Consequently, there is increased interest in manipulating milk composition by a variety of means, ranging from selective feeding to mechanical partitioning of a particular milk component as in ultrafiltration. The objective of this symposium is to review the current knowledge of various methods of altering the composition of milk, which includes on-farm management of several factors as well as milk processing. Therefore, expertise from both production and dairy foods areas is involved.