Powdered milk, also called milk powder,
Powdered milk is used for food as an Food additive, for health (nutrition), and also in biotechnology[Buffers & Saturating agents http://www.interchim.fr/ft/B/BA352a.pdf Retrieved 2014 July 16] (saturating).
History and manufacture
While
Marco Polo wrote of
Mongols Tatars troops in the time of
Kublai Khan who carried sun-dried skimmed milk as "a kind of paste",
[p. 262 in "The Book of Ser Marco Polo, Book 1" translated by Sir Henry Yule (3rd edition), Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1903] the first modern production process for dried milk was invented by the Russian doctor Osip Krichevsky in 1802.
The first commercial production of dried milk was organized by the Russian chemist M. Dirchoff in 1832. In 1855, T. S. Grimwade took a patent on a dried milk procedure,
[p 277 in "Condensed Milk and Milk Powder, 3rd edition" authored and published by O.F. Hunziker, 1920] though William Newton had patented a vacuum drying process as early as 1837.
In modern times, powdered milk is usually made by spray drying["Milk Powder" by K.N. Pearce, Food Science Section, New Zealand Dairy Research Institute. nzic.org.nz ] nonfat skimmed milk, whole milk, buttermilk or whey. Pasteurization milk is first concentrated in an evaporator to approximately 50 percent milk solids. The resulting concentrated milk is then sprayed into a heated chamber where the water almost instantly evaporates, leaving fine particles of powdered milk solids.
Alternatively, the milk can be dried by drum drying. Milk is applied as a thin film to the surface of a heated drum, and the dried milk solids are then scraped off. However, powdered milk made this way tends to have a cooked flavour, due to caramelization caused by greater heat exposure.
Another process is freeze drying, which preserves many nutrients in milk, compared to drum drying.
The drying method and the heat treatment of the milk as it is processed alters the properties of the milk powder, such as its solubility in cold water, its flavour, and its bulk density.
Food and health uses
Powdered milk is a common item in UN food aid supplies,
fallout shelters, warehouses, and wherever fresh milk is not a viable option. It is frequently used in the manufacture of
infant formula. Like other dry foods, it is considered nonperishable and is favored by
Survivalism,
hiking, and others requiring nonperishable, easy-to-prepare food. It is widely used in many developing countries because of reduced transport and storage costs (reduced bulk and weight, no refrigerated vehicles).
Because of its resemblance to cocaine and other drugs, powdered milk is sometimes used in filmmaking as a non-toxic prop that may be insufflated.
Baking
Powdered milk is often used in confectionery such as chocolate and
caramel candy and in recipes for baked goods where adding liquid milk would render the product too thin. Powdered milk is also widely used in various sweets such as the Indian milk balls known as
gulab jamun and the popular Indian sweet known as
Cham cham (made with skim milk powder, sprinkled with desiccated coconut). Many no-cook recipes that use
use powdered milk to prevent the nut butter from turning liquid by absorbing the oil.
Due to the Maillard reaction, cooking powdered milk can lend it a caramelized, toasty flavor which is desirable in baked goods.
Reconstitution
The weight of nonfat dry milk (NFDM) to use is about 10% of the water weight.
[Gisslen wrote, "910 g water + 90 g nonfat dry milk" ⟹ 90 ]g/910 g ≈ 0.0989 = 9.89%. Gisslen also wrote, "14.5 oz water + 1.5 oz nonfat dry milk" ⟹ 1.5 oz/14.5 oz ≈ 0.1034 = 10.34%. There's a value range, depending on weight system used, of 9.89-10.34% NFDM based on water weight when reconstituting nonfat or skim milk. Alternatively, when measuring by volume rather than weight, one cup of fluid milk from powdered milk requires one cup of water and one-third cup of powdered milk.
Nutritional value
Milk powders contain all 21 standard
amino acids, the building blocks of
, and are high in soluble
vitamins and
Dietary mineral.
[ Milk Powder Nutritional Information, US Dairy Export Council ] According to USAID,
the typical average amounts of major nutrients in the unreconstituted nonfat dry milk are (by weight) 36% protein, 52% carbohydrates (predominantly
lactose), calcium 1.3%, potassium 1.8%. Whole milk powder, on the other hand, contains on average 25–27% protein, 36–38% carbohydrates, 26–40% fat, and 5–7% ash (minerals). In Canada, powdered milk must contain added
vitamin D in an amount such that a reasonable daily intake of the milk will provide between 300 and 400 International units (IU) of vitamin D.
However, inappropriate storage conditions, such as high relative humidity and high ambient temperature, can significantly degrade the
nutritive value of milk powder.
[M. Okamoto and R. Hayashi (1985) "Chemical and Nutritional Changes of Milk Powder Proteins
under Various Water Activities" Agric. Biol. Chem., Vol.49 (6), pp 1683-1687.]
Commercial milk powders are reported to contain oxysterols (oxidized cholesterol)[p 655 in "Advanced Dairy Chemistry: Volume 2 - Lipids" by P.F. Fox and P. McSweeney, Birkhäuser, 2006
] in higher amounts than in fresh milk (up to 30 μg/g, versus trace amounts in fresh milk).[p 296 in "Toxins in Food" by W.M. Dabrowski and Z.E. Sikorski, CRC Press, 2004, ]
Oxysterols are derivatives of cholesterol that are produced either by free radicals or by enzymes. Some free radicals-derived oxysterols have been suspected of being initiators of atherosclerosis.[R] For comparison, powdered eggs contain even more oxysterols, up to 200 μg/g.
Export market
As of 2021, the largest producers of milk powder are New Zealand, China, Argentina and Brazil.
European production of milk powder in fiscal year 2019–2020 was estimated at around 3.0 million tonnes of which the main volume was exported in bulk packing or consumer packs.
Australia also has a significant milk powder export industry, exporting over 13,000 tonnes of skim and whole milk powder in fiscal year 2020–2021, to a value of approximately AUD $83 000 000.
Brands on the market include Nido, from the company Nestlé, Incolac from the company Milcobel, Dutch Lady from FrieslandCampina and Puck from Arla Foods.
Some of the largest businesses in the industry are Nestlé, Danone, Lactalis, Fonterra, FrieslandCampina, Dean Foods, Arla Foods, Dairy Farmers of America, Kraft Foods, Saputo, and Parmalat.
Adulteration
In the 2008 Chinese milk scandal,
adulterant with
melamine was found in
Sanlu-brand
infant formula, added to fool tests into reporting higher protein content. Thousands became ill, and some children died, after consuming the product.
Contamination scare
In August 2013, China temporarily suspended all milk powder imports from New Zealand, after a scare where
botulism-causing bacteria were falsely detected in several batches of New Zealand-produced
whey concentrate. As a result of the product recall, the New Zealand dollar slipped by 0.8% (to 77.78 US cents) based on expected losses in sales from this single commodity.
Use in biotechnology
Fat-free powdered milk is used as a saturating agent to block nonspecific binding sites on supports like blotting membranes (
nitrocellulose, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) or nylon),
[Technical sheet #768701, from Interchim] preventing binding of further detection reagents and subsequent background.
[p 82 in "Lab Ref, Volume 2: A Handbook of Recipes, Reagents, and Other Reference Tools for Use at the Bench" by A.S. Mellick and L. Rodgers, CSHL Press, 2002, ] It may be referred as Blotto. The major
protein of milk,
casein, is responsible for most of the binding site saturation effect.
See also
Notes
