Converting Milk Fat into Powder and Cream Powder

Milk fat is the main component and a quality-enhancing ingredient for dairy products such as cream and butter. The increase in worldwide milk production and demand of reduced fat products due to changing of dietary habits, create a surplus of butter and milk fat supply. Milk fat is highly perishable with a short shelf life. Butter is stable at room temperature for about 4 weeks and about 6 months at low refrigeration temperature. However, cold storage is expensive compared to drying and drying becomes a low-cost alternative. Milk fat can be transformed into powder form by spray drying. However, even in dried form, some undesired changes such as fat oxidation and Maillard reaction may occur in dairy powders. Through the microencapsulation technique, stable and durable products can be obtained. In this study, the importance of converting milk fat into powder form and cream powder production are explained, and scientific studies on in the field of conversion of milk fat into powder are summarized. © 2019 Authors. All rights reserved.