Effect of Milk Fat Globule Size on Functionalities and Sensory Qualities of Dairy Products

Abstract

Milk fat globules, along with casein micelles and whey protein, are three main supramolecular constituents of bovine milk. The characteristic physical and chemi-cal properties of the wide variety of dairy products that can be made from milk can, to a large extent, be related back to the fundamental properties of each of these constituents in the product mix (Fig. 7.1 ). Thus the chemical composition and phys-ical properties of milk fat globules, many of which are size-dependent, can be expected to impact on the physical functionality, texture and fl avour of a range of fat-containing dairy products, such as liquid milk, cheese, yoghurt, ice cream and butter (Fig. 7.2 ). Depending on their size and native state along with their interac-tion with other components of milk (mainly casein), utilisation of differentiated- size MFG can be exploited to improve the quality of dairy products. The following section describes the impact of MFG size on the physical functionality and sensory quality of selected fat-structured dairy products