What is Dairy Processing? Techniques, Equipment & Innovations [Complete Guide]

Milk, as valuable as it is, is considered a perishable product. In order to prevent consumers from getting diseases from spoilage in milk, milk goes through various processing techniques, such as cooling or fermentation.

Dairy processing refers to the process of transforming milk into other valuable dairy products with longer shelf lives, such as cheese or butter.

Introduction to Dairy Processing

FAO describes milk as a super nutritious food but with a short shelf life. Due to its properties and perishability, it provides an excellent environment for bacterial growth, resulting in spoilage. Therefore, milk undergoes different processing stages to help preserve it longer and reduce contamination risks and foodborne illnesses.

All dairy products start with milk but vary in protein, fat, and nutrients. It’s fascinating how a single nutritious food like milk can go through a process and become multiple dairy products. Dairy processors ensure the procedure gets done smoothly and the products you purchase at your local store are all high-quality.

Therefore, manufacturers constantly research the dairy market and update themselves on the newest trends. To meet customer demands, they must invest in high-quality processing equipment.

Economically speaking, the dairy industry’s growth is off the charts. Dairy processing allows small-scale dairy production manufacturers to generate higher cash incomes by producing more valuable products and reaching regional and urban markets.

The Journey of Milk from Farm to Your Fridge

Humans have been drinking cow milk for thousands of years, but the modern-day dairy industry didn’t begin until the late 1800s. However, back in the early 1600s, European immigrants brought cattle to North America to provide milk and meat for their families.

By the nineteenth century, technological advancements led to the industrialization of dairy production. The cattle breeds were now specifically bred for dairy production, and a variety of advanced refrigerated milk tank cars were employed to ship the milk to long distances efficiently. By then, the pasteurization of milk had begun, which involved heat treatment to kill the bacteria known to cause diseases in the human body.

Milking Systems: Manual vs. Automated

A dairy farmer begins their work by choosing the right milking system. There are many options, making it hard for dairy farmers to select the milking system that will work best for them while maximizing profitability.

Manual Milking Systems

The manual milking system is the most traditional system, still used to this day by many dairy farmers. However, while manual milking machines may be easier to use, there are costs to consider and cover.

Costs:

• A high-quality milking machine ensures the efficiency and hygiene of the milking process.
• A refrigerated milk tank to keep and store the milk after milking.
• Arranging a milking parlor where cows can be moved to and get milked.

Automated Milking Systems

Automated milking systems are getting more popular every day. These systems can help reduce the need for manual labor in dairy production sectors and boost efficiencies among dairy farmers.

There are three main automated milking systems commercially available right now: single-box systems, multi-box systems, and automatic rotary.

The automated milking systems are proven to be very cow-friendly and also reduce labor costs. However, just like manual milking systems, there are also some costs to consider and take into account.

Costs:

• The initial robotic milking machine setup costs can be very high
• Automated feeders are also needed to encourage cows to enter the milking system.
• Refrigerated bulk tanks to store the milk after milking.

 

Transporting Milk to Dairy Processing Facilities

When it comes to milk transportation for dairy processors, time is of the essence. Due to the perishable nature of the milk, dairy processors must choose effective manners and logistics to maintain food integrity and safety.

The logistic systems vary according to the present conditions. Small-scale producers, for instance, use simple collection cans with shade to prevent the temperature rise in milk.

Generally, milk can be transported in milk cans or tanks that provide the milk with a sanitized and clean space. They can be transported by the producers themselves or milk collectors. Milk collectors collect milk from several producers in bulk tankers every 24-48 hours. These bulk tankers are insulated and keep the milk at a cool temperature until it arrives at the destination.

Processors are strict with taking the milk temperature and use refrigeration units that control and maintain the coolness in milk. These units are constantly evolving and even include monitoring technologies. These monitors allow processors to control the temperature when needed and shut down the refrigeration if the product space has become too cold.

Key Stages in Dairy Processing

Dairy processing involves a detailed journey of transforming milk into a wide variety of products you use daily and put on your table, from yogurt to cheese. But have you ever stopped for a second to appreciate the careful steps taken in this journey so you can enjoy your cheese, yogurt, or ice cream?

These key stages ensure the highest quality, safety, and taste.

Pasteurization to Ensure Safety and Extend Shelf Life

Pasteurization is one of the critical and foremost stages in dairy processing that ensures meeting food safety standards and extending shelf life. This stage includes gently heating the raw milk to 72°C to kill the harmful bacteria and microorganisms. After that, it cooled to 4°C very rapidly.

Another form of pasteurization is ultra-high temperature treatment (about 125°C), ensuring the milk stays fresh and safe for longer. The end product undergoing the ultra-high temperature treatment is now free of microorganisms that cause spoilage.

They are referred to as long-life milk and can be kept at room temperature in sealed packages without causing spoilage or going sour.

Clarification & Separation of Milk

This stage is taken in order first to remove any impurities from the milk by centrifugal separation. After that, the pure milk goes through a process where all or at least some of the cream is removed, resulting in low-fat, reduced-fat, or full-fat milk.

Homogenization

Most of the milk processors put milk through a homogenization process to remove fat globules from milk and improve the fat distribution in the milk.

This stage involves putting the milk under pressure through fine nozzles to stop the cream from coming on top and separating. The fat drops turn into smaller droplets at high speed, distributing the fat evenly throughout the milk.  This way, manufacturers ensure dairy product consistency and a finer texture for the consumers.

Exploring Dairy Products Manufacturing

Fluid Milk Processing

Fluid milk products are raw milk processed for human consumption as a beverage. Milk processing ensures that the milk is free of hazardous germs and bacteria harmful to the body and is safe to consume. Fluid milk products go through the process mentioned earlier in this article: pasteurization, separation, and homogenization.

The milk is standardized during separation, divided into skim milk and cream to be combined again to an appropriate ratio based on the product type.

Generally speaking, fluid milk processing is an essential stage, consisting of testing, pasteurizing, standardizing, homogenizing, and packaging to ensure quality and safety for consumer use.

How are Your Favorite Dairy Products Made?

Cheese

Cheese is one of the most favorite dairy products worldwide and has quite a fascinating journey. Cheesemakers first check the milk to ensure purity and quality; then, the milk goes through a filter and gets standardized. Manufacturers also check the milk’s fat, protein, and cream to ensure cheese consistency.

Once these stages are all taken, they start adding the “starter cultures” to the milk, which ferments its natural sugar into lactic acid. After starter cultures, a few other ingredients, such as rennet and color added. Their measurement depends on the cheese type. Rennet causes the milk to gel before separating the solids from the liquid.

Cheesemakers then proceed to cut it, which results in the whey coming out. And once the curds are cut out, they are again heated to release more whey. We can do two things to make the cheese look more like cheese:

• Salting the curds and pressing them in a form.
• Pressing the curds into a hoop.

Yogurt

According to Dairy Australia, ancient cultures used to make yogurt as a way to preserve milk.

The production of yogurt is a relatively simple procedure in which the milk is pasteurized and left somewhere to cool. Once the milk is cool, it is inoculated with starter bacteria.

There are various types of yogurt on the market now. The factor that makes them different is the production method.

Butter

To make butter, first, manufacturers check the milk that has arrived at their facility for quality. If the milk passes the quality check, it is moved to bulk-cooled tanks.

Using centrifugation, milk is skimmed and separated into two parts:

• Skimmed milk
• Cream

To make the cream come out of the top of the skimmer and the skimmed milk come out from the outside. The cream is then pasteurized to kill any harmful microorganisms and cooled. The cream should be left for 24 hours to be physically matured. During this time, the acidification is controlled by adding lactic ferments.

Right after this step, the cream is churned and pushed around by large blades until it forms a yellowish mixture, similar to buttermilk. The grains of butter are now washed in water to remove the buttermilk. Then, they are moved to the blender to produce a smooth paste (butter) and put into molds to form butter pats and rolls.

Lastly, the butter is packaged in special paper that protects the butter from oxidation and helps preserve the taste.

How are Frozen Dairy Products Made?

Frozen dairy desserts contain milk solids that may have fat or may not, and are consumed in a frozen state. These dairy products are favored by most people all around the world, offering multiple flavors such as vanilla, chocolate, or various fruits.  The type of frozen dairy product determines what ingredients and equipment you need to produce it.

One of the most favorite frozen dairy desserts is ice cream. This delicious dessert’s production involves mixing the ingredients and then pasteurizing them. Once the mixture is pasteurized, it is then homogenized. Now that the mixture is ready, it must be left to age for 24-48 hours. This step is necessary to hydrate the dry ingredients and crystalize the fat.

The product is then moved to a continuous freezer, and when it leaves at -5 degrees, 50% of its water is frozen. Most of the other half of water is frozen when the product is hardened at -40 degrees.

Sweeteners and other emulsifiers are also added to the product during processing to enhance the flavor and texture.

Other Frozen Desserts

Frozen yogurt: Frozen yogurt is a perfect alternative to ice cream, mainly low-fat or completely fat-free.

Sherbet: Sherbet is a product sweeter than ice cream, containing a small amount of milk fat and citric fruit.

Quality Control & Food Safety in Dairy Processing

Ensuring quality control and food safety in dairy processing is critical to gaining consumers’ trust and maintaining product integrity. The nature of dairy products is highly perishable and vulnerable to contamination. So, this makes safety measures essential throughout the whole dairy processing production.

Dairy processing facilities must comply with global safety regulations and adhere to the standards and protocols. Some of those global safety regulations are:

• Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) in the U.S.
• Codex Alimentarius (FAO/WHO international standards)
• HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) protocols

These frameworks outline various guidelines related to the different stages of dairy processing. Dairy processors’ compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and ISO 22000 food safety management systems ensures they meet international safety benchmarks.

The Role of Automation & AI in Dairy Processing

According to Dairy Processing, the use of AI in the food and beverage market was estimated to be worth $9.68 billion in 2024.

Agriculture is transforming every day, and the dairy industry is no exception. Now that the times have changed, the dairy industry is embracing and adapting to the new technologies and techniques to not only enhance efficiency and productivity but also be more humane and ethical.

These automated dairy systems offer solutions to exactly what every farmer or manufacturer struggles with.

For instance, dairy managers use software to take information about the livestock and make informed decisions. This concept is called Precision Livestock Farming (PLF), and producers use all sorts of information and data to know when to call the veterinarian or check the health of their livestock with the parlor staff.

Dairy farmers who have used AI to analyze the data have reported a 20% saved time on the farm data analysis and reporting, according to research by the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Integrating automated dairy systems in farms comes with many benefits, such as:

• Enhancing product quality
• Improving herd health
• Automating mundane, routine tasks (milking)
• Preventing the outbreak of diseases among the herd

What Are the Key AI Developments in Dairy Processing?

1. Smart Dairy Processing with IoT & AI: The combination of IoT with AI has made it possible for farm managers to have complete control over the dairy plant’s temperature, humidity, and equipment performance. The intelligent systems can even detect the malfunctions in equipment before they occur, helping to minimize downtime!
2. Milking With Automated Robots: Robotic milking systems are integrated into many dairy farms with the main objective of operating whenever the cows need to be milked, not based on a predetermined time schedule. This is considered a revolutionary step in the dairy processing industry as the milking system is now more humane, ethical and reduces the stress on cows.
3. Automated Feeding Systems: Automated livestock monitoring can significantly help track and reduce the time, cost, and carbon emissions by reducing water and energy consumption and animal feed. By integrating automated feeding systems throughout the dairy farm, you can specify the nutrition content every cow must get. This helps to yield more milk and protect the cow’s health. It can also greatly impact the resource optimization and reduction of environmental impact, leading to sustainability initiatives.

Conclusion

Dairy processing has come a long way, with advancements that have completely changed manual techniques into automated and AI-based solutions that drive the sector’s efficiency, sustainability, and growth.

Looking ahead, the dairy processing sector will keep on adapting to consumer preferences and respect emerging technologies. That is why manufacturers and dairy producers must always be on the lookout for the latest trends and advancements in the dairy industry. By integrating modern dairy processing systems, the producers can continue delivering high-quality products that meet the changing demands of consumers.

At Yasmin Trading, we provide investors and producers in the agro-processing industry with advanced and specialized equipment that optimizes operations and maintains product integrity.

Are you ready to take your production to the next level by integrating various agro-processing solutions into your production line? Visit Yasmin Trading and check out the wide range of products we offer!

FAQ

1- What enzymes process dairy?

Enzymes are proteins that elicit a specific reaction with a particular outcome in the body.

Dairy manufacturing involves employing specific dairy enzymes in the making of cheddar, yogurt, milk, and other milk-based products. These enzymes are added to dairy products to improve their shelf life. There are a variety of enzymes used in the dairy processing, such as:

• Esterase
• Lactase
• Lipase
• Protease
• Catalase
• Rennet 

2- How many hours is needed to digest milk?

Milk is considered a protein-rich product, and it can be absorbed and digested easily. Milk is a valuable source of nine primary amino acids that the human body cannot produce and, therefore, must be consumed daily.

The human body takes an average of 1.5 hours to digest skimmed milk. Whole milk, however, can take almost five hours to be appropriately digested and leave the body.

Milk is also rich in vitamin D and calcium, and studies show that the best time to consume them is in the evening to ensure the body is ready and can absorb the nutrients effectively.

3- What key factors should be considered when choosing dairy processing equipment?

There are some key factors to take into account when selecting the right dairy processing equipment is essential to ensure efficiency, quality, and regulatory compliance, including:

• Production Capacity: Choose equipment suitable for your current production volume and that allows room for future expansion.
• Energy Efficiency: To reduce operational costs and support sustainability efforts, manufacturers must invest in energy-efficient machinery.
• Maintenance & Durability: Invest in machinery that is easy to clean and has resistant material (like stainless steel). This ensures reliability and long-term use.