Dairy | Issue Cover Collection Published in 2024

The growing global market of dairy products has led to the need for alternative approaches regarding sweet and acid whey valorization, the primary by-product of cheese and strained yogurt production. In this context, prebiotic galactooligosaccharides can be produced enzymatically from whey, using commercially available β-galactosidases. A comparative study was conducted to assess the production of galactooligosaccharides from sweet and acid whey, employing two commercial β-galactosidases from Aspergillus oryzae and Kluyveromyces lactis. Concerning the profile of the produced galactooligosaccharides, the Kluyveromyces lactis lactase hydrolyses lactose more rapidly, resulting in higher levels of allolactose and lower levels of 6-galactosyl-lactose, compared to the lactase from Aspergillus oryzae.

Garlic is a delicious vegetable that produces bad breath due to the persistence of sulfur volatiles in the body. This study proposes the mechanism behind yogurt’s ability to deodorize garlic breath. The synergistic activity of fat, protein, water, and active microbial cultures significantly reduced garlic breath. The type of protein, pH of the protein solution and timing of yogurt consumption all affect the ability of these components to bind to the sulfur volatiles. The collective action of the components significantly reduced garlic breath, establishing yogurt as a natural deodorizer for garlic breath.

Pregnancy loss can be defined as the failure of a cow to carry a pregnancy to term resulting from infectious and non-infectious causes. The diagnosis of sporadic abortion or outbreaks involves not only clinical examination of animals but also epidemiological, nutritional, environmental, and herd health status investigations to determine potential risk factors and the sampling methodology. These clinical procedures should be fully supported at the laboratory level and seek to identify pathogens, bioactive compounds, alongside other analyses. All results need to be discussed with farmers so that they can take adequate measures. Pregnancy loss management is an issue relevant to reproductive herd health management programs in dairy farms.

Fatty liver is a more-common-than-expected metabolic disease affecting dairy cattle around parturition that generates high economic losses for the dairy industry. The disease has evolved from a low incidence of moderate cases to a greater increase in severe cases in recent years. This evolution could be explained by the higher rate of genetic selection that has been carried out for milk production, which concomitantly brings about pleiotropic genes that determine greater abdominal adiposity, ketosis, and other diseases. Abdominal fat is much more reactive, pro-inflammatory, saturated, and low in adiponectin than subcutaneous fat. In this review, we will mainly address the epidemiological aspects, the pathophysiology concerning the different types of fat depots (subcutaneous and abdominal), and the early diagnosis of the disease to carry out efficient control and preventive strategies.