Physical Equilibria: Proteins

Abstract

Milk is a complex biological fluid secreted by mammals explicitly for the nourishment of their young. Through the centuries, evolution has produced this stable, fluid, concentrated source of lipid, protein, minerals, and carbohydrate. Because of its unusual stability (for a biological fluid), milk has become a valuable foodstuff, a commodity, yet many of the problems which arise in the processing of milk stem from the biochemical nature of its components. In dealing with skim milk, the retention of the unique properties of the milk proteins during processing is of the utmost importance.