Milk and Milk Products - E-book - ePub

MILK is the normal mammary secretion derived from complete milking of healthy milch animal. It is also defined as the whole, clean, fresh, lacteal secretion obtained by complete milking of one or more healthy milch animals. Milk has been evolved as an ideal source of nourishment to the young ones of a particular species producing it. In many parts of the world, cow is the major source of milk for human consumption.
However, some other sources of milk like buffalo, goat, sheep, camel etc have also been employed for milk consumption. In India, the principal sources of milk are cow and buffalo. Moreover, in few parts of the country some amount of goat milk is also being consumed. India ranks high in milk production with a largest livestock population in the world. The term 'market milk' refers to the fluid whole milk that is sold to individuals usually for direct consumption.
In India, generally the term 'milk' refers to cow or buffalo milk, or a combination of the two.