(Food-Beverage-News.Com, December 27, 2016 ) Milk is an essential food in our diet because of its balanced composition of nutrients (proteins, lipids, glucids and minerals). It is used for the preparation of various food and beverage products. Dairy ingredients are food ingredients made from milk and are used in preparing various food products such as ice creams, chocolate, sports food, clinical nutrition, bakery-snacks, pork meat, ready-to-eat, prepared deserts and soups. Dairy ingredients are divided into various categories such as milk powder (dried form of milk manufactured by evaporating milk to dryness. Main purpose of drying milk is to preserve it as milk powder has longer shelf life than liquid milk and does not need to be refrigerated, due to its low moisture content), whey ingredients, milk protein concentrates & milk protein isolates (substance obtained by partial removal of non-protein constituents such as, lactose and minerals from skim milk so that the finished dry product contains 90% or more protein by weight) and lactose & its derivatives. Major end-users of dairy ingredients are bakery & confectionery, dairy, convenience foods, sports & clinical nutrition products.
Asia-Pacific is the largest diary ingredients market followed by Europe and North America. Milk powder holds the largest share in global diary ingredients market. Milk protein concentrates & milk protein isolates have high growth prospects due to increasing sports activities globally as they have high usage as sports supplements. Whey proteins contain glutamine which helps muscle glycogen replenishment and prevent decline in immune function from overtraining. It also contains high levels of arginine and lysine that may stimulate growth hormone release and an increase in muscle mass. Consumers are increasingly becoming more active on maintaining a good health and are conscious to include various nutraceuticals food products (including dairy ingredients) in their regular diet.
Rising popularity of protein-enriched foods and beverages has led to increasing awareness among the consumers to become more conscious towards health benefits related with a dairy-rich diet. Rising population, urbanization and increasing demand for dairy products in food consumption is expected to increase the overall demand for diary ingredients. Urbanization in the world crossed the 50% mark in 2009. According to the United Nations, urban population is expected to increase from 3.4 billion in 2009 to 6.3 billion in 2050. Additionally, increasing demand from the aging population is expected to drive the global dairy ingredients market. According to The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), Population Division (2013), there were 841 million people aged 60 years and above compared to 205 million in 1950. It is projected to reach over 2 billion by 2050. Increase disposable income enables the consumers to pay premium price for products with proven benefits. The overall medium household income in India has increased from USD 1,164.8 billion in 2011 to USD 1,308.8 billion in 2012. In the U.S. the medium household income increased to USD 51,371 in 2012 from USD 51,324 in 2011. Increasing innovations in the industry help to drive down the cost of production and incorporate additional benefits to the products. This also acts as an important driver for the dairy ingredient market.
Some of the major players operating in the global diary ingredients market are Glanbia PLC, Fonterra Co-Operative Group Limited, Dairy Farmers of America and Arla Foods.
