The main options for selling goat milk are as a fluid, raw product and as processed, pasteurized, fermented or cultured cheese and milk products. The decision of what income path to take will determine the size of your dairy.
Most simply, anyone who milks an animal in northern India may sell up to 4 to 5 litres per day of raw milk to customers who buy the milk on the farm or mostly to dairy cooperatives. Monthly milk testing for pathogens and other indicators of quality is recommended but bot essential and it adds extra credibility in the eyes of customers.
Regardless of the location, it is advisable to set up a milk quality and pathogen testing schedule to make sure the milk is safe for sale. Intake of nutrient elements (lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals) for body cells to work smoothly.
In the recent years, the factors such as the sociological, economic and nutritional value are been significantly impact on the food industry, as a result of these new foods is produced which has the required properties with health-related and is marketed.
The products using goats’ milk are included in these new foods. Goats’ milk point of view the nutritional is a valuable dairy product. Goats’ milk production is a dynamic and growing industry that is fundamental to the wellbeing of hundreds of millions of people worldwide and is an important part of the economy in many countries.
Thus, the lack of at industrial scale increasing the use of goats’ milk will be encouraged to more consumption by the community.
Goat Milk as Nutraceutical Food
A Nutraceutical food may provide expanded utility beyond its nutritional benefit. These benefits can be both physical and mental and are commonly attributed to the active components of the food.
Today’s functional foods are typically marketed to large groups of the total population. Scientific evidence confirming the relationship between food and health has promoted the rapid development of a new food market in recent years: the functional food market.
In addition to the interest of industries and consumers for functional foods has been exponentially increasing. According to the Consensus Document issued by the European Concerted Action on Science of Functional Foods, food may be referred to as “functional”, if it has been unequivocally proven that it positively influences one or more biological functions in the human body, improving the state of health and wellness, and reducing the risk to develop a disease.
Goats’ milk nutritional properties and lower allergenicity in comparison to cow milk, especially in non-sensitized children, has led to an increased interest in goat milk as a functional food, and it now forms a part of the current trend to healthy eating in developed countries.
Thus, the use of milk with particular nutritional properties, alone or in combination with bacterial strains having probiotic properties and producing physiologically active metabolites, represents one of the technology options for manufacturing new dairy functional beverages.
Goat Milk Review
The use of goat milk as an excellent food source is undeniable. It has beneficial effects for health maintenance, physiological functions, in the nutrition of children and elderly people, and according to some authors, can be consumed without negative effects by people suffering cow milk allergy.
Goat milk shows great variability in biochemical composition, technological properties and bacteriological quality depending on genetic factors, environmental conditions, and goat farming practices.
Following factors can be counted as factors affecting milk production in goats. These factors are; pure breeding, crossing, age, birth season, birth type, duration of lactation and dry period, milking type, frequency and duration of milking, mating season, first pregnancy age, the survival rate of kids, nutrition and diseases.
Goats’ milk cheese is generally made in small artisanal units by traditional technology in many countries including India and has a special taste and flavour very different from that of cows’ milk cheese. Raw goats’ milk cheese represents a significant proportion of ripened cheeses in most Mediterranean countries.
But cheeses made under these conditions may not have the minimum hygiene and sanitary standards necessary to obtain consistent product quality. Most reports of processing of goats’ milk do not include pasteurization. But boiling or pasteurization before processing recommended and should be done to prevent food borne diseases.
Composition of Goat Milk
Goat milk differs from cow or human milk in having better digestibility, alkalinity, buffering capacity, and certain therapeutic values in medicine and human nutrition. The average composition of goats’ milk does not differ remarkably from that of cows’ milk.
Goats’ milk has some particular properties that confer technological advantages in comparison to cow’s milk, such as a smaller size of fat globules, which provides a smoother texture in derived products, lower amounts of as1-casein, resulting in softer gel products, a higher water holding capacity and a lower viscosity.
However, the flavour of goat’s milk is more intense in comparison to cow’s milk, which can restrict the acceptance of its derivatives by consumers. However, essential differences are present with regards to the structure, composition and size of the casein micelles, the proportion of individual protein fractions and higher content of nonprotein nitrogen and mineral compounds in goats’ milk.
Mineral contents of goat milk from French-Alpine and Anglo-Nubian breeds showed higher Ca, P, K, Mg, and Cl, and lower Na and S levels than bovine milk. Variation in the chemical composition of goat milk is, however, highly seasonal. The major constituents of goat milk are high in early lactation, decline rapidly, then remain low for a variable length of time, and increase again towards the end of lactation.
Medicinal and Nutritional Values of Goat Milk
Goat milk is usually compared with cow milk. Cow milk production is much cheaper and the volumes are much larger and so cow milk has a lower market price. Commercial goat milk production is more expensive because of lower productivity, seasonal variations and the need for bigger animal herds. Goat milk contains protein, lipid, carbohydrate, vitamin and mineral.
The superior digestibility of goat milk, the proper composition of fatty acids and its content of bioactive compounds seem to give properties suitable for treating or preventing certain medical conditions. The major role of milk proteins is to supply amino acids and nitrogen to the young mammals and constitute an important part of dietary proteins for the adult. Intact milk proteins have also specific functions such as micelle formation.
Furthermore, milk proteins have physiological importance, they facilitate uptake of several important nutrients such as trace elements and vitamins and contain a group of proteins which perform a protective function.
Bioactive Peptides: Milk derived bioactive peptides play vital roles in human health and nutrition. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor peptides, immune-modulating peptides and casein phospho-peptides are the most favourite bioactive peptides for application to foodstuffs formulated to provide specific health benefits. Casein derived peptides have already found interesting applications as dietary supplements and as pharmaceutical preparations.
Milk Lipid: Lipids are the most important components of milk in terms of cost, nutrition, physical and sensory (taste) characteristics that impart to dairy products. The biggest component, about 97%, of the lipid fraction of goat milk is triacylglycerol (TAG).
In goat milk the lipid globules are significantly smaller than in cow milk (“Natural homogenized”). They have both a smaller diameter and the size distribution of globules has a larger proportion of smaller particles than in cow milk. Total fat content and fat globules size and distribution affects the viscosity of milk and are of importance for the pre process and manufacturing of milk products. The large number of fat globules with small diameter makes the goat milk more digestible
Goat milk contains a much higher proportion of short and medium-chain fatty acids, especially butyric, caproic, caprylic, capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic, linoleic acid and linolenic acid with the chain lengths of 4-18 carbon atoms. Three of these (Caproic, caprylic and capric acids) have actually been named after goats, because of their predominance in goat milk.
Conjugated Linoleic Acid: Goat milk also has higher proportions of polyunsaturated fat acid (PUFA) as well as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Bioactive lipids in goat milk also influence the immune system.
First, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has many beneficial and bioactive functions on human health. CLA is naturally found in ruminant milk and meat and is an important bioactive component in goat milk. In terms of immune response stimulation, CLA has been found to modify mediators of immunity such as cytokines, eicosanoids, prostaglandins and immunoglobulins.
Furthermore, CLA has the ability to reduce the allergy-related immunoglobulin IgE in humans, suggesting the anti-allergic potential of the lipid. CLA has also been shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects by decreasing the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines associated with irritable bowel disease, atherosclerosis, cancer and other immunopathologies in the body.
In addition, the medium-chain triglycerides capric, caproic and caprylic acids, the most abundant forms found in goat milk, have been shown to possess antimicrobial activity. Numerous studies have shown the antibacterial activity of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). However gram-negative, MCTs appear to have a greater benefit than SCFAs for preventing bacterial infection of gram-positive and negative bacteria, as well as Salmonella.
Taurine: Taurine is the most representative free amino acid in goat milk and the concentration is much higher than in cow milk. Taurine is involved in many different roles in the human body, such as growth and brain development, formation of bile salts, modulation of calcium flux and the stabilization of membranes as osmoregulation and/or by attenuating toxic substances. Taurine deficiency in human tissues may lead to cardiomyopathy, epilepsy, lack of growth among others.
Protein: The whey and casein milk proteins as well as their bioactive peptides and include immunoglobulin, lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase, folate binding protein and more recently, α-lactalbumin and β-lactoglobulin. Biological Function -Lactoglobulin Carrier of retinol, fatty acids and triglycerides; transfer of passive immunity; Immunomodulatory activity; Anti-carcinogenic activity -Lactalbumin Lactose synthesis; treatment of chronic stress-induced diseases; Anticarcinogenic activity Serum albumin Synthesis of lipids; Antioxidant activity; Anti-carcinogenic activity Lactoferrin Antimicrobial activity; Antifungal activity; Anti-proliferative activity; Antiviral activity; Immunomodulatory activity; Anti-thrombotic activity Immunoglobulins Immunomodulatory activity; Growth and development.
Milk Carbohydrate: Lactose is the major carbohydrate in goat milk and the content is slightly lower than in cow milk. It is synthesized from glucose and galactose in the mammary gland, where the milk protein α-lactalbumin plays an important role. Lactose is a valuable nutrient, because it favors intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium and phosphorous and the utilization of vitamin D. It also is of major importance during milk synthesis and during secretion of milk into the duct system of the udder
Marketing Setup of Goat Milk
Goat milk in India does not have much market due to its low availability and salty taste. Taste senses for goat milk have not been developed in India. But in recent years, due prevalence of viral diseases like dengue goat milk got heightened market place. Due to this goat milk have been shelved as elite medicinal food product in the market. So, marketing of goat milk should be done as exclusive Nutraceutical and Functional Food which have unique medicinal properties.
Target customers –
- Infants – Above 2 Year of age
- Geriatrics (old age people)
- People having digestive problems and ulcers
