The future of milk in 2050: Dairy in the age of personalization

Abstract

Cow milk is often considered one of the most versatile foods on the planet, with an ability to transform into multiple formats, containing thousands of bioactive compounds that serve a plethora of different purposes in the body, some of which are known, and many of which are still to be discovered. In the past 25 years, dairy has continued to be recognized as a highly nutrient-dense commodity. Advancements in the next 25 years will push culture and consumers toward enhanced demands for precision, personalization, and transparency from the products they purchase to the services they use, especially regarding food, health, and wellness. This will begin the shift for dairy and milk from a nutrient-dense commodity to an even higher value food. Dairy foods will need to align with new concepts in the future of retail and commerce that allow consumers to gain tailored solutions based on a set of criteria and personal preferences they set, with and through their personal technology. Dairy science will play a critical role in enabling this shift—encompassing fields from nutrition science and product development to genetics, marketing, and commercialization—by leveraging the versatility of cow milk and demonstrating dairy food's health and wellness benefits from the molecular level to the whole dairy matrix.