Milk Powders

Powdered milk is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; Milk Powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and does not need to be refrigerated, due to its low moisture content.
Milk Powder manufacture is a simple process now carried out on a large scale. It involves the gentle removal of water at the lowest possible cost under stringent hygiene conditions while retaining all the desirable natural properties of the milk - colour, flavour, solubility, nutritional value. Whole (full cream) milk contains, typically, about 87% water and skim milk contains about 91% water. During Milk Powder manufacture, this water is removed by boiling the milk under reduced pressure at low temperature in a process known as evaporation. The resulting concentrated milk is then sprayed in a fine mist into hot air to remove further moisture and so give a powder.