Flavouring Components for Dairy Products

Milk in its natural state does not have a pronounced odour and flavour. Through various kinds of processing milk can be changed into other products which taste differently, e. g. butter, cheese, yoghurt, quark etc. Certain processes as well as storage, transportation, packaging material can cause so-called milk defects . From a sensory point of view these are described as cow shed smell, light taste, cooked taste and oxidation taste, only to mention a few. 

In order to offer the consumer a greater variety of dairy products other then milk, UHT milk, sour milk products, cream, butter or cheese, the dairy industry has developed a variety of flavoured dairy products and later in the sixties, dairy products containing (fruit) preparations. The latter category originated from a close cooperation between the dairy industry, fruit manufacturers and flavour houses. Fruit juice processing companies, marmalade manufacturers and also flavour houses established departments for (fruit) preparations which resulted in a great variety of preparations. 

These (fruit) preparations have multifunctional purposes in dairy products. They provide fruit, stmcture, colour, stability and, mostly through added flavourings, a variety of tastes. 

Dairy products can be flavoured with either natural, nature identical, artificial or even process flavourings. The type depends on what the producer wants to declare on the ingredient list natural flavourings or only flavourings . 

Today natural flavourings can be used without technical restrictions since in the nineties biotechnology and generally improved technologies provide a much wider, better and more economical range of natural flavouring substances. 

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