Dairy products or milk products are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cattle, water buffalo, goat, and sheep. Dairy products consumed around the world include yogurt, cheese, milk, and butter. A facility that produces dairy products is a dairy. Dairy products are consumed worldwide to varying degrees. Some people avoid some or all dairy products because of lactose intolerance, veganism, environmental concerns, or other reasons or beliefs.
Types of dairy product
Milk
Milk is produced after optional homogenization or pasteurization, in several grades after standardization of the fat level, and possible addition of the bacteria Streptococcus lactis and Leuconostoc citrovorum. Milk can be broken down into several different categories based on type of product produced, including cream, butter, cheese, infant formula, and yogurt. Milk varies in fat content. Skim milk is milk with zero fat, while whole milk products contain fat. Milk is an ingredient in many confectioneries. Milk can be added to chocolate to produce milk chocolate.
Cream
Butter Butter is mostly milk fat, produced by churning cream
Ghee, also called clarified butter is made by gentle heating of butter and removal of the solid matter Smen, a fermented, clarified butter used in Moroccan cooking Anhydrous milkfat (clarified butter)
Fermented
Fermented milk products include:
Yogurt Yogurt is milk fermented by thermophilic bacteria, mainly Streptococcus salivarius ssp. thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus, sometimes with additional bacteria, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus.
Cheese Cheese is produced by coagulating milk, separating curds from whey, and letting it ripen, generally with bacteria, and sometimes also with certain molds.
Custard Custard, thickened with eggs Imitation custard, thickened with starch
Frozen
Ice cream, slowly frozen cream, milk, flavors and emulsifying additives (dairy ice cream) Gelato, slowly frozen milk and water, lesser fat than ice cream Ice milk, low-fat version of ice cream Frozen custard Frozen yogurt, yogurt with emulsifiers
Casein
History of dairy products
While cattle were domesticated as early as 12,000 years ago as a food source and as beasts of burden, the earliest evidence of using domesticated cows for dairy production is from the seventh millennium BC – the early Neolithic era – in northwestern Anatolia. Dairy farming developed elsewhere in the world in subsequent centuries: the sixth millennium BC in eastern Europe, the fifth millennium BC in Africa, and the fourth millennium BC in Britain and Northern Europe. In the last century or so larger farms specialising in dairy alone have emerged. Large scale dairy farming is only viable where either a large amount of milk is required for production of more durable dairy products such as cheese, butter, etc. or there is a substantial market of people with money to buy milk, but no cows of their own. In the 1800s, economist Johann Heinrich von Thünen argued that there was about a 100-mile radius surrounding a city where such fresh milk supply was economically viable. Cool temperature has been the main method by which milk freshness has been extended. When windmills and well pumps were invented, one of their first uses on the farm, besides providing water for animals themselves, was for cooling milk, to extend its storage life, until it would be transported to the town market. The naturally cold underground water would be continuously pumped into a cooling tub or vat. Tall, ten-gallon metal containers filled with freshly obtained milk, which is naturally warm, were placed in this cooling bath. This method of milk cooling was popular before the arrival of electricity and refrigeration. Harold McGee writes that, for thousands of years, "the making of cheese, yogurt, and other fermented products was largely uncontrolled, with microbes from the air or left over from the previous batch, whether desirable or not, colonizing the milk.... By the turn of the [twentieth] century, purified bacterial cultures were being used to control the quality of cheese more closely."
Consumption patterns worldwide Rates of dairy consumption vary widely worldwide. High-consumption countries consume more than 150 kilograms (330 lb) per capita per year. These countries are: Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Costa Rica, most European countries, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Canada, the United States and Pakistan. Medium-consumption countries consume 30 kilograms (66 lb) to 150 kg per capita per year. These countries are: India, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand, North and Southern Africa, most of the Middle East, and most of Latin America and the Caribbean. Low-consumption countries consume under 30 kg per capita per year. These countries are: Senegal, most of Central Africa, and most of East and Southeast Asia.
Lactose levels For those with some degree of lactose intolerance, considering the amount of lactose in dairy products can be important to health.
Intolerance and health research Dairy products may upset the digestive system in individuals with lactose intolerance or a milk allergy. People who experience lactose intolerance usually avoid milk and other lactose-containing dairy products, which may cause mild side effects, such as abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, gas, and nausea. Such individuals may use non-dairy milk substitutes.
Cancer There is no scientific evidence that consuming dairy products causes cancer. The British Dietetic Association have described the idea that milk promotes hormone related cancerous tumour growth as a myth, stating "no link between dairy containing diets and risk of cancer or promoting cancer growth as a result of hormones". In 2024, Cancer Research UK stated "there is no reliable evidence that casein or hormones in dairy causes cancer in people". The American Cancer Society (ACS) does not make specific recommendations on dairy food consumption for cancer prevention. Higher-quality research is needed to characterise valid associations between dairy consumption and risk of and/or cancer-related mortality. A 2023 review found no association between consumption of dairy products and breast cancer. Other recent reviews have found that low-fat dairy intake is associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer.
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