Flavours and off-flavours in milk and dairy products

Milk and milk products are an important part of daily nutrition in many regions of the world. Besides fulfilling nutritional requirements, the flavour of milk and milk products is a key parameter for consumer acceptance and marketing (Drake et al., 2007a). The market for dairy products in more traditional dairying countries has been growing steadily; most of this growth can be attributed directly to the introduction of novel product options and increasing application of milk constituents in other food formulations. Due to the importance of dairy products in daily life, especially for consumers in traditional dairying countries, they are being used increasingly as delivery systems for biologically active/nutraceutical preparations. Even higher growth in the consumption of milk and milk products is now coming from countries which did not have any tradition of dairying; such countries offer tremendous opportunity for further enhanced sales. At the same time this increased consumption also challenges researchers and manufacturers to create new product solutions to better suit the palette of consumers recently introduced to dairy products.