'Dairy products' are generally defined as
foodstuffs produced from
milk.They are usually high-energy-yielding food products. A production plant for such processing is called a
dairy or a dairy factory. Raw milk for processing generally comes from
cows, but occasionally from other
mammals such as
goats,
sheep,
water buffalo,
yaks, or
horses. Dairy products are commonly found in
European,
Middle Eastern and
Indian cuisine, whereas they are almost unknown in
East Asian cuisine.

Dairy farm
Types of dairy products
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Milk, after optional
homogenization,
pasteurization, in several grades after standardization of the fat level
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Cream, the fat skimmed off the top of milk or separated by machine-centrifuges
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Sour cream, cream that has been
fermented by the bacteria ''Streptococcus lactis'' and ''Leuconostoc citrovorum''
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Crème fraîche, slightly fermented cream
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Smetana, Central and Eastern European variety of sour cream
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Clotted cream, thick spoonable cream made by heating
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Cultured buttermilk, fermented concentrated (water removed) milk using the same bacteria as sour cream
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Milk powder (or powdered milk), produced by removing the water from milk
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★ Whole milk & buttermilk
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Skim milk
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★ Cream
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★ High milk-fat & nutritional powders (for infant formulas)
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★ Cultured and confectionery powders
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Condensed milk, milk which has been concentrated by evaporation, often with sugar added for longer life in an opened can
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Evaporated milk, (less concentrated than condensed) milk without added sugar
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Ricotta cheese, milk heated and reduced in volume, known in
Indian cuisine as
Khoa
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Infant formula, dried milk powder with specific additives for feeding human infants
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Butter, mostly milk fat, produced by churning cream
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Buttermilk, the liquid left over after producing butter from cream, often dried as
livestock food
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Ghee, clarified butter, by gentle heating of butter and removal of the solid matter
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Anhydrous milkfat
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Cheese, produced by coagulating milk, separating from whey and letting it ripen, generally with
bacteria and sometimes also with certain
molds
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Curds, the soft curdled part of milk (or skim milk) used to make cheese (or casein)
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★ Whey, the liquid drained from curds and used for further processing or as a livestock food
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Cottage cheese
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Quark
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Cream cheese, produced by the addition of cream to milk and then curdled to form a rich curd or cheese made from skim milk with cream added to the curd
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Fromage frais
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Casein
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Caseinates
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★ Milk
protein concentrates and isonates
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Whey protein concentrates and isonates
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Hydrolysates
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Mineral concentrates
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Yogurt, milk fermented by ''
Streptococcus salivarius ssp. thermophilus'' and ''
Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus'' sometimes with additional bacteria, such as ''
Lactobacillus acidophilus''
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Ayran
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Lassi
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Gelato, slowly frozen milk and water
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Ice cream, slowly frozen cream and emulsifying additives
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Ice milk
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Frozen custard
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Frozen yogurt, yogurt with emulsifiers that is frozen
★ Other
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Kumis/
Airag, slightly fermented mares' milk popular in
Central Asia
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Viili
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Kajmak
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Kephir
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Filmjölk
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Piimä
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Vla
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Dulce de leche
Criticism
Many people avoid dairy products for health reasons. They argue that cow’s milk is specifically designed for calves, not humans.
Vegans and some
vegetarians avoid dairy products due a variety of
ethical,
physiological,
environmental,
political, and
religious concerns.
Eggs as dairy?
"Eggs & dairy" is a common category. Some may define dairy as "food that is produced by animals (other than meat)" rather than as milk specifically. Under this definition,
eggs are grouped with milk products. For example, the
Open Directory Project at one point listed cooking eggs as a subcategory of cooking dairy products. Defining dairy as limited to milk products, however, is more common.
External links
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International Dairy School
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Questions and Answers on dairy products
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MilkAcademy - Applicable information about milking equipments and dairy farming
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Got Milk?
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MooMilk.com -- Dairy Industry information for children and dairy professionals
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NZMP list of ingredients manufactured from milk