Milk fat

This dossier is the third in a series of articles devoted to milk fat:

• the [F 6 320] file Composition, organization and properties ;

• the [F 6 321] standard cream and butter folder.

From the 1970s onwards, as the butter industry began to master its production processes and combine quality and productivity, new products appeared. This evolution, in terms of variations on the standard butter mentioned in the second part of this report [F 6 321] , led to the emergence of three new families: fat-enriched products, low-fat products and "modified" butters, the latter being endowed with new functionalities whose advantages were aimed either at practicality of use, or health. This expansion has made it possible to offer both end consumers and food manufacturers a genuine range of dairy fats.

The first development involved the manufacture of concentrated fat products for export to the recombination market, in particular to countries with a shortage of milk production. This market involves the manufacture of milk or other dairy products (drinking milks, fermented milks, ice creams, creams and even butters) from skimmed-milk powder (protein fractions, lactose and minerals), concentrated milk fat and water. This concentration of butterfat produces fats with a shelf life of several months, without the need for a cold chain. Then came concentrated and modified milkfats, true "made-to-measure" dairy fats, to meet the expectations of food industry customers. This still applies today to industrial pastry-making and baking, the ice cream industry, the chocolate industry and the ready-cooked meals industry, among others. For almost forty years, this market has grown strongly, thanks to European subsidies (regulations (EEC) no. 262/79 and no. 570/88, see...