Modifications and Interactions of Milk Proteins in Different Processes and Products

Dear Colleagues,

The dairy industry has been capitalizing on diversified milk protein ingredients in the past couple of decades, enabling them to create economy and profit even from byproducts. Milk proteins are a main component in many dairy products and are used as an ingredient in other foods, supplements, and pharmaceutical products. Apart from their high nutritional quality, milk proteins also have functional properties including foaming, emulsification, binding, gelling, and delivery properties. Several processes involving thermal treatment, non-thermal technologies, mechanical forces, chemical reactions, enzymatic reactions, fermentation, and separation technology may affect the protein quality and physicochemical and rheological properties. The modifications and interactions of milk proteins with other ingredients and components in products and different processes lead to changes in the structural, nutritional, chemical, biological, and technological properties of milk proteins, which affect their end applications and utilization. Some of the intermolecular and intramolecular interactions that can affect these properties of milk proteins include adsorption, conjugation, complexation, and encapsulation. There are several applications of milk proteins in products and processes that on the one hand utilize modifications in milk proteins and on the other find the modification-induced changes unacceptable. Hence, it is important to identify, characterize, and quantify, at micro- and macromolecular levels, the effect of modifications of milk proteins induced by different forces, interactions, and reactions, in their resultant products and applications.

Overall, the main goal of this Special Issue is to present the latest research on:

• Understanding milk protein modification and interactions that occur during different processes and in the presence of different ingredients and components;
• Approaches and achievements in modification and interactions of milk proteins to other biomolecules;
• Changes in the nutritional quality, physicochemical properties, digestion and bioavailability, techno-functionality, delivery properties, texture and rheology, as well as sensory properties of milk proteins;
• Processes and products that affect the different beneficial properties of milk proteins.

Dr. Maneesha S. Mohan
Dr. Bongkosh Vardhanabhuti
Guest Editors

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