Title:Influence of Heating on the Physico-Biochemical Attributes of Milk
Volume: 19
Issue: 1
Author(s): Baishakhi De, Tridib Kumar Goswami*, Suravi Pandey, Jolvis Pou, Sadananda P. Sharma and Vijaya G.S. Raghavan
Affiliation:
- Department of Agriculture and Food Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India
Keywords:
Milk, balanced diet, thermal treatment, dairy processing, non-thermal technologies, milk protein, glycation, aggregation, digestibility, nutritional quality.
Abstract:
Background: Milk, the fluid secreted by the female of all mammalian species, fulfills
the complete nutritional and energy requirements. Milk is a single balanced diet enriched in
physiologically important proteins and peptides, enzymes, enzyme inhibitors, immunoglobulins,
growth factors, hormones, and antibacterial agents. Milk can be converted to different dairy
items that occupy an important place in confectioneries and beverages and thus are subjected to
various processing conditions.
Objective: This review aims to discuss how the processing conditions affect the physicobiochemical
and nutritional attributes of milk protein and influence its functionality with a major
focus on heating or thermal treatment.
Methods: Detailed literature surveys with keywords ‘thermal effect of milk proteins’, ‘dairy
chemistry’, ‘Maillard reactions have been done in food science, food chemistry, dairy science,
functional foods journals, PubMed, and Scopus for gathering information on thermal effects on
milk proteins. Out of 25 shortlisted review and research articles, 20 most relevant ones were cited
and enlisted as references.
Results: Due to thermal treatment during dairy processing, the chemical characteristics of milk
proteins are altered because of chemical changes like glycation, aggregation and denaturation.
Chemical modifications influence the functionality, digestibility, and nutritional quality of milk
proteins.
Conclusion: Novel milk processing technologies viz. ohmic and microwave heating, pulsed electric
field, high hydrostatic pressure, microfiltration and ultrasound find applications in dairy processing.
Such non-thermal technologies do not involve heat to kill the microbes; thus reducing
the detrimental effect of conventional heat treatments on milk quality.
