Paper No.

: 07
Paper Title: TECHNOLOGY OF MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS
Module – 17: Fermented milk products – Acidophilus milk, Kefir,
Koumiss, Yoghurt
INTRODUCTION
Fermented milks are popular since ancient time throughout the world. Variety of fermented
milks are popular due to its taste and apparent nutritive and therapeutic value.
Microorganisms used in manufacture of fermented milk causes pre-digestion of nutrients
present in milk and thus improves digestibility. Number of products, involving mainly acid
production, such as acidophilus milk, yoghurt, dahi, etc. are very popular. Some other
products such as kefir and koumiss involve acid and alcohol fermentation with gas
production (CO2). Fermented milk contain all the constituents as present in initial milk,
except that lactic acid and other metabolites will increase.
CLASSIFICATION OF FERMENTED MILKS
The fermented milks are classified based on the nature of fermentation (Table 1).
Table 1:Classification of fermented milks
Sr. No. Nature of Example of fermented milk
fermentation
1 High acid Bulgarian sour milk
2 Medium acid Yoghurt, Acidophilus milk
3 Low acid Cultured butter milk
4 Acid-alcohol Kefir, Koumiss

STARTER CULTURES USED FOR MANUFACTURE OF DIFFERENT

FERMENTED MILKS
The starter cultures used in the manufacture of fermented milks belong to several genera of
varied physiological properties. Basically starters can be classified as lactic or non-lactic
starters. The types of starter cultures used in manufacture of various fermented milks are
shown in Table 2.
 Table 2: Types of starter cultures employed for manufacture of various fermented milks
Sr. Product Cultures employed
No.
1 Acidophilus milk L. acidophilus
2 Yoghurt S. thermophilus
L. bulgaricus
3 Koumiss L. bulgaricus
L. acidophilus
Kluyveromycesfragilis
4 Kefir Kefir grains (contain
Lactobacilli, yeasts,
Lactococci and acetic acid
bacteria)
5 Cultured butter milk Lactococci
Leuconostocspp.
6 Bulgarian milk L. bulgaricus

PROCESSING STEPS IN MANUFACTURE OF FERMENTED MILKS

The milk destined to be converted into fermented milks should be fresh, clean and free from
developed acidity and off-flavours. It should also be free from antibiotic residues and other
inhibitory substances which can adversely affect the performance of the starter.
Standardization of milk is carried out to adjust fat and solids-not-fat content, to meet legal
requirements and to have uniform quality of the product throughout the year. Standardization
of milk can be achieved by use of skim milk powder, whey powder, water, cream, etc.
Sometimes, homogenization of milk is also done, which gives uniform dispersion of fat and
other constituents added to milk. It also improves viscosity and richness of the product.
Milk is then heat treated to 80 – 85 °C for 30 min or 90 – 95 °C for 5 – 10 min or boiling for
5 min. Heat treatment of milk intended for manufacture of fermented milks have the
following effects.
 Heat treatment kills most of the microorganisms and thus reduces competition for
starter cultures.
 Natural inhibitory substances, enzymes, etc. are inactivated.
 Heating process drives out oxygen, which is helpful for facultative starter bacteria.
  Heat treatment convers certain components of milk which are metabolically
favourable for the growth of starter culture.
 It denatures milk proteins, leading to availability of nitrogen compounds and
sulfahydral compounds, which are known to stimulate starter growth in small
concentration.
 Denaturation of whey proteins, gives better gel stability and decreases whey
separation in fermented milk.
The common processing steps involved in the manufacture of fermented milks are depicted in
Figure 1.

Selection of milk

Standardization

Heat treatment

Cooling to optimum
temperature

Inoculation with starter

culture

Incubation

Setting

Cooling

FERMENTED MILK
Figure 1: Flow diagram for the preparation of fermented milk
ACIDOPHILUS MILK
Acidophilus milk is prepared by fermentation with Lb. acidophilus. The salient feature of Lb.
acidophilus is that, it is natural inhabitant of intestinal tract of man and animals and is able to
establish there. Lb. acidophilus imparts several therapeutic benefits to the host and hence it
has become very popular.
The conventional method of acidophilus milk preparation involve inoculation of autoclaved
or severely boiled milk with 2 – 5% of Lb. acidophilus culture. The milk is then incubated at
37 °C, till the acidity reaches 1 to 1.5% lactic acid.
Acidophilus milk has highly cooked flavour and hence it is not much popular. The
7 8
recommended dose of Lb. acidophilus is 10 to 10 cells per day to derive maximum
therapeutic benefits. Table 3 shows some of the commercially popular acidophilus milk
products.
Table 3:Acidophilus milk products
Sr. Product Cultures employed
No.
1 Acidophilus sour milk L. acidophilus
2 A – 38 Lc. Lactis
Leuconostocspp.
Lb. acidophilus
3 ACO – yoghurt Yoghurt culture
Lb. acidophilus
4 Acidophilus bifidus Yoghurt culture
yoghurt Lb. acidophilus
B. bifudum
5 Acidophilin Lc. Lactis
Yeast

KEFIR
Kefir is characterized by foamy, effervescent milk product. It is fermented milk product
which involves mixed lactic acid and alcoholic type of fermentation. It is an old and historic
product from Caucasian mountains in Russia. Kefir grains are gelatineous, white or cream
coloured, irregular grains of varying size (0.5 – 2.0 cm diameter). They are made of
polysaccharide called ‘kefiran’ and are insoluble in water. Within the folds of the kefir grains
at least six functionally different groups of microorganism and yeast reside in symbiotic
relationship. All these organisms grow in association during kefir manufacture and produce
lactic acid (0.9 – 1.1 % lactic acid), alcohol (0.5 – 1.0 %) and CO2 (0.03 – 0.07%) as a major
end product.
Kefir manufacturing involves addition of kefir grains into pasteurized milk and incubated at
18 – 20 °C for 15 – 16 hrs with intermittent agitation. The grains are then filtered out for re-
use. The filtrate is used at the rate of 2 – 7 % for inoculating the milk followed by two stage
incubation. The first stage incubation is carried out at 25°C for 8 – 12 hrs which promotes
acid production. The product is then packed in crown capped bottles and incubated further at
8 – 10 °C for 10 – 12 hrs for accumulation of CO2 and alcohol.
Different groups of microorganisms present in kefir grains are:
 Mesophilichomofermentative lactic Streptococci
 Mesophilicheterofermentative lactic Streptococci
 Thermophilic Lactobacilli
 Mesophilic Lactobacilli
 Yeast
 Acetic acid bacteria
KOUMISS
Koumiss is a mare’s milk fermented product similar to kefir and is very popular in Russia and
Central Asia. Mare’s milk has low casein, high whey protein, high lactose and is rich in
albumin, peptone and certain vitamins. Due to its different composition koumiss prepared
from mare’s milk does not form firm curd but it remains liquid. So to prepare koumiss from
cow milk, certain modifications are required to be done for adjusting the composition of milk.
Koumiss culture consists of Lb. bulgaricus subsp. delbrueckii, Lb. acidophilus and
Kluyveromyceslactis or Kluyveromycesmarxianus. Yeast and Lactobacilli grow in association
and produces 1 – 1.5 % lactic acid, 1 – 2 % alcohol and 0.5 – 0.9% CO2.
YOGHURT
Yoghurt is a coagulated milk product obtained by lactic acid fermentation through the action
of S. thermophilus and Lb. bulgaricus. It is one of the most popular fermented milk products
throughout the world with different names viz. Jugurt or Eyran in Turkey, Leban in Labanon
and Arabian countries, Dahi in India, Jabady in Egypt and Sudan and Filmjolk in
Scandinavia.
Both the starter cultures S. thermophilus and Lb. bulgaricusused in manufacture of yoghurt
are thermophilic and grow symbiotically at 42 °C.Lb. bulgaricushas limited proteinase
activity which produces certain amino acids (especially histidine and glycine) which
stimulates the growth of S. thermophilus. On the other hand S. thermophilusproduces formic
acid which stimulates the growth of Lb. bulgaricus.
During early period of incubation, S. thermophilus dominates and produces much of the lactic
acid. However, during the latter two hours of incubation Lb. bulgaricusalso picks up. After
reaching 0.7 – 0.9% acidity in terms of lactic acid, the growth of S. thermophilusstops by
itself due to inhibitory effect of lactic acid. Generally, in the final product the ratio of
rod:cocci remains 1:1 which gives the best quality product. The culture also produces 13 – 17
ppm of acetaldehyde, which is a major flavour compound in yoghurt.
A generalized method for preparation of set type and stirred type yoghurt is depicted in
Figure 2 and 3, respectively.

Raw milk

Preliminary treatments of milk (Pre-heating, Clarification, Addition of solids)

Homogenization (160 - 180 kg/cm2)

Heat treatment (90°C/5 min)

Cool to inoculation temperature (43 - 45 °C)

Addition of flavouring/colouring (Optional)

Inoculation with starter culture (1 - 3 %)

Pack in retail container

Incubation (42 °C/2 - 3 hrs.)

Cooling (< 10 °C)

SET YOGHURT

Figure 2: Flow diagram for manufacture of set yoghurt

 Raw milk

Preliminary treatments of milk (Pre-heating, Clarification, Addition of solids)

Homogenization (160 - 180 kg/cm2)

Heat treatment (90 °C/5 min)

Cool to inoculation temperature (43 - 45 °C)

Inoculation with starter culture (1 - 3 %)

Incubation in bulk (42 °C/2 - 3 hrs.)

Breaking/stirring of coagulum

Mixing with colouring/flavouring/water

Cooling (< 10 °C)

STIRRED YOGHURT

Figure 3: Flow diagram for manufacture of stirred yoghurt

SUGGESTED READINGS
IDF (1984) Fermented Milks, Bulletin No. 179, International Dairy Federation, Brussels.
IDF (1988) Fermented Milks – Science and Technology, Bulletin No. 227, International
Dairy Federation, Brussels.
Prajapati, J.B. (1995) Fundamentals of Dairy Microbiology, AktaPrakashan, Nadiad, India.
Robinson, R.K. (1991) Therapeutic properties of fermented milks, Elsevier and Applied
Science, U.K.
Tamime, A.Y. and Robinson, R.K. (2007) Yoghurt: Science and Technology,
WoodheadPublishing Limited, U.K.
Yadav, J.S., Grover Sunita and Batish, V.K. (1993) A Comprehensive Dairy Microbiology,
Metropolitan Press, New Delhi, India.

*********