Proteomics in milk and dairy products

Abstract

Milk from different animal species is a valuable source of proteins and other nutrients for human consumption. Its dynamic range of proteoforms among animal species provides different nutritional profiles. Milk can be used plain or after transformation processes such as fermentation, caseification, ripening, and many others. This chapter will describe the actual role of proteomics to study and address safety, quality, and transformation processes. The large-scale study of proteins (proteomics) is able to provide information about different protein profiles, characteristics of milk, nutrients, lactation stage, and the relative health status of the animal. More extensively, proteomics is useful for the assessment of safety and quality of both milk and dairy products. The aim of this chapter is to summarize the most recent applications of proteomics, including the methods for sample preparation and analysis, and to make them available and applicable for both research and analytical purposes.