Abstract

Simple SummaryDairy products represent an important food source for worldwide people. The milk used for their manufacturing is mostly supplied from the four major ruminant species (cow, goat, sheep, and buffalo), on which the research has been focused for long time. In recent years, the social transformation underway in poor and developing countries, climatic changes, and increased attention to animal welfare are shining a light on some minor animal species that have a “local dairy importance” such as equines, camels, and yaks. Even though not specifically reared for milk production, they are sometimes regularly milked for the manufacturing of a series of dairy products such as fermented milk, cheese, butter, and other fat- and non-fat-based specialties. The investigations on their manufacturing processes, and on their chemical-nutritional and microbiological properties, are now rapidly increasing, and a robust set of scientific data is beginning to form. These information will help to improve the quality of these products and to spread the knowledge about them all over the world. In the near future, they could represent a source of innovative and functional foods for a wider number of people, supplying an income to farmers and enhancing food biodiversity. Milk processing is one of the most ancient food technologies, dating back around 6000 BC. The majority of dairy products are manufactured from cows, buffaloes, goats, and sheep; their production technologies are mostly standardized and have been widely investigated. Milk and dairy products from minor species are less important under the economic point of view, but they play a fundamental social role in many marginal and poor areas. Due to scarce interest of the dairy industry, their technological characteristics and related issues have been investigated less. Recently, the increasing interest toward ethnic foods and food biodiversity is helping these minor products to emerge from the “darkness” in which they have remained for long time. Some of them are increasingly seen as useful for the valorization of marginal areas, while others are recognized as innovative or healthy foods. The present review aims to resume the most recent knowledge about these less-known dairy products. The first part summarizes the main technological properties of equine, camel, and yak milk with a view to processing. The second is a survey on the related dairy products, both the traditional ones that have been manufactured for a long time and those that have been newly developed by food researchers.

Highlights

  • Today, cattle produce 82% of total world milk, the remaining share is mostly obtained from buffaloes, goats, and sheep

  • Less than 1% derives from other animals, such as camels, horses/donkeys, and yaks [1], which can be defined as “minor dairy species.”

  • Coliforms in raw yak milk produced in China were reported to range between 3.0 and 3.5 logcfu mL−1, with E. coli being detected in 29 samples at 2 log value

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Summary

Introduction

Cattle produce 82% of total world milk, the remaining share is mostly obtained from buffaloes, goats, and sheep. The minor species have low economic significance, and the research on them has only recently started: scientific information about mare and camel milk date roughly to less than 30 years, whereas for other species, such as donkey and yak, the investigation significantly increased in the last 20 years. Most of the relevant studies deal with the management of lactation and the chemical-nutritional properties of milk, but recently, they have focused on dairy processing. The aim of the present work was to close this gap by performing a state-of-the-art of the research on milk products from equines, camels, and yaks, with an insight on other species defined as “marginal,” since they are only occasionally milked and involved in dairy processing. The review is divided into two parts: the first one describes the main technological properties of milk, and the second is a survey of the related dairy products and their chemical and nutritional characteristics

General Aspects
Equine Milk
Camel Milk
Yak and Other Milks
Equine Fresh and Fermented Milk
Equine Cheese
Fresh cheese from donkey milk obtained coagulation with microbial rennet from
Camel Fresh and Fermented Milk
Camel Cheese
Yak and Other Species Products
Findings
Conclusions
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