Modern Dairy Processing Techniques for Sustainable Dairy Production

Abstract

Dairy is among the most vibrant industries in the global food system that is crucial to human nutrition, the rural economy and development. Nevertheless, the growing environmental issues, limited availability of resources and the growing demand of the consumers on high-quality dairy products have required a switch to sustainable processing practices. The modern dairy processing technologies are taking shape as the technological innovations to achieve the efficiency, diminish the environmental influence and develop the quality of the products. This review thoroughly examines advanced dairy food processing methods such as high-pressure processing (HPP), membrane filtration, pulsed electric fields (PEF), ultrasound, cold plasma and advanced thermal methods such as ultra-high temperature (UHT) processing. These technologies help in sustainability since they help to reduce energy consumption, lessen water usage, increase shelf life, maintain nutritional and sensory qualities. Moreover, the combination of automation, digitalization and by-product valorization approaches are mentioned as the drivers to the sustainable dairy production systems. Although they have benefits, the limitations include high cost of capital, complex technology and regulatory restrictions that bar their wide use. The future outlook involves the application of hybrid technologies and artificial intelligence to transform the dairy processing. On the whole, the current dairy processing methods offer great prospect to attain environmentally sustainable and economically viable dairy production systems.