THE KEY TO ADDED VALUE - FRACTIONATION AND THE USE OF MILK CONSTITUENTS

The Canadian dairy industry has undergone many changes since the begin ning of the 1990s as a result of the globalization of markets and the GATT and NAFTA agreements. These changes have profoundly altered the r ules of trade. In addition to these changes, we have seen arrive on th e market a wider diversification of dairy products (yogurts, fine chee ses and foods containing milk constituents). Research carried out in t he past ten years has led to a greater knowledge of milk constituents. At the same time, the development of fractionation technologies and t he availability of these technologies at an industrial level have led to a better use of these fractions in the food-processing sector. The very large number of dairy and food products with labelling ''contains milk solids'' or ''modified milk solids'' attests to this phenomenon. The first generation of fractionation technologies consisted of separ ating the main constituents of milk, namely fat, proteins and lactose. The new generation makes possible a finer fractionation. For example, whey proteins (the liquid left after making cheese) can be concentrat ed, isolated or separated into various protein fractions. In the last ten years, as a result of fractionation technologies, whey has gone fr om being a waste product of the dairy industry released into the envir onment to a protein ingredient used in animal feed, at first, and now in human food. It is now considered to be a functional ingredient with a high added value (used as a fat substitute, ingredient with nutriti onal value, gelling agent). By the beginning of the 21st century, and as the trend towards health-promoting (nutraceutic) foods continues to grow, milk protein has an enormous potential as an ingredient which c an be used in such type of products. Further research on fractionation and functional properties of milk proteins should be carried out to d iscover their potential as functional ingredients which also promote h ealth. In this article, I will look at fractionation technologies as w ell as the present and potential uses of milk proteins.