Milk and Dairy Products: Linking the Chemistry, Structure, Processing, and Food Properties: Second Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Milk is a complex biological fluid composed of various components such as water, proteins (caseins, whey proteins, and milk fat globule membrane proteins), fats, lactose (oligosaccharides), minerals, and vitamins. Each of these components plays a crucial role in determining the properties and functionality of dairy products. Casein micelles, fat globules, and whey proteins form a complex colloidal system. The size, shape, and distribution of these components determine the physical properties of milk. Various processing techniques (thermal and non-thermal) have been used to transform milk from different animal species (bovine, caprine, camel, ovine, etc.) into different dairy products. These include pasteurization, homogenization, fermentation, concentration, and drying, which may induce changes in the structure and functional properties of milk components and thus influence the texture, mouthfeel, and flavor release of milk and dairy products. Understanding the chemistry, structure, processing, and functionality of milk and dairy products is essential for improving food quality, safety, nutritional value, and function. This knowledge can also help in the development of new dairy products and processing techniques to meet the requirements of consumers.

In this Special Issue, we invite you to contribute submissions (including original research articles and reviews) on milk components from different animal products including their structure, nutritional value, and functionality changes during different processing techniques, and the relationship between chemistry, structure, processing, and food functionality properties, with topics such as the following:

1. Effects of traditional and novel processing techniques as well as integrated innovative processing routes on the chemistry, structure, digestion and absorption properties, and bioactivity of animal milk and dairy products.
2. Development of new fermented milk with targeted functionality, evaluation of the function of dairy products, and functional mechanisms of certain types of fermented milk.
3. Key functional components in milk, especially the evaluation of various functional factors and their interaction, including structure, physical and chemical properties, and in-depth exploration of functionality.
4. Effects of different heat treatment temperatures on active ingredients, Maillard reaction products, and flavor in fluid milk；
5. Separation and extraction technologies for new functional ingredients such as lactoferrin and osteopontin.

Dr. Shuwen Zhang
Dr. Lina Zhang
Dr. Xiaomeng Wu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• dairy product
• flavor
• quality improvement
• dairy chemistry
• structure
• innovative processing techniques
• bioactivity
• functionality
• essential dairy ingredient isolation