A review on camel milk composition, techno-functional properties and processing constraints

Camel milk plays a critical role in the diet of peoples belongs to the semi-arid and arid regions. Since the prehistoric time the marketing of camel milk was limited owing to lacking the processing facilities in the camel rearing areas, so the self-consumption of raw and fermented camel milk was practiced by nomads. A better understanding of the techno-functional properties of camel milk is required for product improvement to address market and customer needs. Despite the superior nutraceutical and health promoting potential, limited camel dairy products are available compare to other bovines. It is a challenging impetus for dairy industry to provide diversified camel dairy products to the consumers with superior nutritional and functional qualities. The physicochemical behavior and characteristics of camel milk is different than the bovine milk, which poses the processing and technological challenges. Traditionally camel milk is only processed into various fermented and non-fermented products, however, the production of commercially important dairy products (cheese, butter, yogurt and milk powder) from camel milk has not been processed successfully. Therefore, the industrial processing and transformation of camel milk into various products including fermented dairy products, pasteurized milk, milk powder, cheese and other products requires the development of new technologies based on applied research. This review highlights the processing constraints and techno-functional properties of camel milk while presenting the challenges associated with the processing of milk into various dairy products and future research directions to improve the product quality have also discussed.