Butter production

Chemical reactions enhanced by catalysts or enzymes are an integral part of the manufacturing processes for the majority of chemical products. The total market for catalysts and enzymes amounts to 11.5 billion (2005), of which catalysts account for about 80%. It consists of four main applications environment (e.g., automotive catalysts), 31% polymers (e.g., polyethylene and polypropylene), 24% petroleum processing (e.g., cracking and reforming), 23% and chemicals, 22%. Within the latter, particularly the catalysts and enzymes for chiral synthesis are noteworthy. Within catalysts, BINAPs [i.e., derivatives of 2,2 -bis(diphenylphosphino) -1, l -bis-l,l -binaphthyl) have made a great foray into chiral synthesis. Within enzymes, apart from bread-and-butter products, like lipases, nitrilases, acylases, lactamases, and esterases, there are products tailored for specific processes. These specialty enzymes improve the volumetric productivity 100-fold and more. Fine-chemical companies, which have an important captive use of enzymes, are offering them to third parties. Two examples are described here ... 

For many years, the economic value of milk was based mainly or totally on its fat content, which is still true in some cases. This practice was satisfactory when milk was used mainly or solely for butter production. Possibly, the origin of paying for milk on the basis of its fat content, apart from its value for butter production, lies in the fact that relatively simple quantitative analytical methods were developed for fat earlier than for protein or lactose. Because of its economic value, there has long been commercial pressure to increase the yield of milk fat per cow by nutritional or genetic means. 

Many consumers also wish to be made aware of any genetic modification to the crop. Genetic modification might be beneficial for cocoa butter production as the characteristics of the butter could be modified in the growing bean, and also resistance to pests and diseases might be introduced to the plant. Analytical methods are required to detect such modification, in both the raw materials and the processed product. 

Podlaha, O. and Toregard, B. (1984) HPLC separation of mono-unsaturated triglycerides with respect to a- or (5-position of oleic acid in some vegetable fats. Fette Seif. Anstrichm., 86, 243-245. Polidori, P., Chiesa, L., Moretti, V.M. and Valfre, F. (1996) Milk fat quality nutritional and sensorial parameters related to butter production. Ind. Aliment., 35, 8-12. 

The churning of sweet cream produces butter. In the United States there are continuous churns, which apply pressure and agitation to cream on a continuous stream, extracting the buttermilk and adding salt throughout the process. There also is the older, batch churn method of butter production. The consumer generally does not understand the difference, and both types of product sell side by side on the shelf. 

In 1870, the year before the introduction of factory buttermaking, butter production in the United States totaled 514 million lbs, practically all farm made. Authentic records concerning the beginning of factory buttermaking are meager. It appears that the first butter factory was built in Iowa in 1871. This also introduced the pooling system of milk for creamery operation (1). 

The process for cholesterol removal from anhydrous milkfat was patented by General Mills (41). Fractionment Tirtiaux also disclosed the development of a vacuum steam distillation system called the LAN cylinder (38). The steam distillation process (Figure 2) was commercialized, producing a 90-95% cholesterol reduction in anhydrous milkfat with a 95% yield that was reconstituted into 2% fat fluid milk (42). The major disadvantage to the process is that it strips or removes most all volatile flavor components from the fat. These flavor components must be captured (i.e., vacreation) before the distillation process to attempt to reproduce the delicate flavors so desired for reconstitution into a butter product. 

The new nutrition labeling regulations, promulgated under the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1993 (54), mandate that only strictly defined terms be used to make nutrient content claims. For example, the term light may only be used on products that have been specifically formulated or altered to meet one of two conditions (1) if the product derives 50% or more of its calories from fat, reduce the fat level by 50% (as compared with a reference product), and (2) if the product derives less than 50% of its calories from fat, reduce the calorie level by one-third (compared with a reference product). Generally, butter products derive more than 50% of their calories from fat and, therefore, must achieve a minimum 50% fat reduction to use the term light. The term reduced when used as a nutrient descriptor requires a formulation alteration that achieves a minimum 25% reduction in the nutrient from a reference product (63). 

Increased demands on the keeping qualities of butter require careful construction, operation, and cleaning of the milk- and cream-processing equipment, as well as research to develop machines that will ensure butter production and packing under conditions without contamination and air admixture. It has been demonstrated that butter produced under closed conditions has a better keeping quality than butter produced in open systems (83). 

Butter-like products with reduced-fat content are manufactured in several countries. Stabilizers, milk and soy proteins, sodium albumin or caseinate, fatty acids, and other additives are used. A product is now available on a commercial scale in the former U.S.S.R. that has the following composition 45% milkfat, 10% nonfat solids, and 45% moisture. It has a shelf life of 10 days at 5°C (91). Each country has established its own standards for butter and butter fat products. Many are still developing standards for a reduced-fat butter product to meet the growing consumer demand. 

Despite this and other measures, it was not possible after the milk market organization took effect to prevent an imbalance between butter production and consumption. Even the U.K. s accession to the EC in 1973 did not bring about a turn in the overall development. Although imports from New Zealand into the new member country were cut from nearly 165,000 to 55,000 tons and although the U.K. turned mainly to France, the Netherlands, and Germany as new supplier countries, the rise of butter prices caused restricted consumption on the English market. In the course of a few years, per capita consumption dropped from 8.8 kg in 1970 to 3.3 kg in 1991 (143). 

A peak in production surplus in the EC was reached in 1986. This was due not only to increasing supplies but also to a notable drop in the consumption of milkfat. The consumer turned to products with a reduced fat content. This trend applies to almost all milk products and has substantially increased the availability of milkfat for butter production (67, 144). Table 16 gives production data for the EU-15 and other countries for butter, dairy spreads, and margarine blends (145). 

K. Alexandersen, Recombined Butter Products for Bakery Applications, Technology Memorandum No. 11, Crown Chemtech Ltd., Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1994. 

Figure 3.26 Schematic representation of the stages of butter production, O, Indicates fat globules , water droplets and —, fat crystals. Black indicates continuous aqueous phase and white indicates continuous fat phase. (Modified from Mulder and Walstra, 1974.)...

W.W. Kaeding and S.A. Butter. Production of Chemicals from Methanol. 1. Low Molecular Weight Olefins. J. Catal. 61 155 (1980). 

The history of margarine begins with its invention by H. Mege-Mouries in 1869 following an order from Emperor Napoleon III of France to produce a cheap and more stable butter substitute. He succeeded in producing such a product by a churn process also used for butter production, and started from cream prepared from water and/or milk and oleomargarine. He obtained this oleomargarine by fractionation of fresh beef tallow at 25-30 °C. 

Butter production is different and is still based on the original churn process (for a discussion, see under Section 5.7.4). 

Choline, 277,280 Choline kinase, 504 Choline phosphotransferase, 504,512 Chordata, wax esters, 147 Chromatography, 179,273-77,279,281-83 Chromic acid, 274 Chrysanthemum coronarium, 52 Chrysobalanus icaco, 11 Churning in butter production, 224 Chylomicrons, 382,534-39 Cigarette smoking and cardiovascular disease, 534 Cinnamon oil, 51 Circular dichroism, 300 Citric acid and esters, 228,232,453 Claviceps, 151,492... 

Parker (40) reported the application of on-line NIR analyses for monitoring continuous-process butter production. The point chosen for NIR sampling was the pipe before the packing line. Two probes, a transmitter and a receiver, were installed in the butter pipe. Fiber-optic cables ran from the probes to the instrument. The laminar flow of the butter in the pipe gave a very reproducible sample presentation with very good spectral data. The instrument was calibrated for moisture in unsalted, salted, and cultured butter and for salt. The same author reported the on-line NIR application in the control of the milk powder spray-drying process. 

Piatkiewicz, A.E.A., Selection and mutation of Streptococcus diacetylactis for butter production, va. Advances in Biotechnology Vol. II. Fuels, Chemicals, Foods and Waste Treatment, A. R. Liss, New York, 1981, p. 491. 

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