 |
|
|
|
|
Buffalo Milk Vs. Cow Milk
No difference in nutritive
value: There is practically no difference in the nutritive value and
digestibility of milk and milk products obtained from cow and buffalo milks.
Lower cholesterol
content: Significantly, cholesterol content of buffalo
milk is 0.65 mg/g as compared to the corresponding value of 3.14
mg/g for cow milk.
More proteins:
Animal bioassays have shown the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER)
value of buffalo milk proteins to be 2.74 and that of cow milk as 2.49. It will be
seen that buffalo milk has about 11.42 per cent higher protein
than cow milk.
More important minerals:
Buffalo milk is also superior to cow milk in terms of important minerals, namely calcium, iron and phosphorus which are higher
by 92 per cent, 37.7 per cent and 118 per cent respectively than those present in
cow milk.
More vitamin A:
Buffalo metabolizes all the carotein into vitamin A,
which is passed on to milk as such. |
|
|
|
|
|
More viable commercially: Buffalo milk is commercially more
viable than cow milk for the manufacture of fat-based and SNF-based
milk products, such as butter, ghee and milk powders because of its lower water content and higher fat content. Most significantly, the
lower cholesterol value should make it more
popular in the health conscious market. By the virtue of greater opacity of casein
miscelles, coupled with higher levels of colloidal proteins, calcium
and phosphorus, buffalo milk is more densely white and has superior
whitening properties as compared to cow milk. Therefore, unlike the cow milk (which is pale-creamish yellow in color) and cow milk fat (which
is golden yellow in color), buffalo milk is distinctively whiter. UHT-processed
buffalo milk and cream are intrinsically whiter and more viscous than their cow milk
counterparts, because of conversion of greater levels of calcium and phosphorus into the
colloidal form. Buffalo milk is, therefore, more aptly suitable for
the production of tea and coffee whiteners than cow milk.Higher innate levels of
proteins and fat render buffalo milk a more economical alternative
to cow milk for the production of casein, caseinates, whey protein concentrates and a wide
range of the fat-rich dairy products.  Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
Better whey proteins: Proteins of buffalo milk, particularly the
whey proteins, are more resistant to heat denaturation as
compared to the cow milk proteins. Dried milk products prepared from
buffalo milk exhibit higher levels of undenatured proteins when processed under
similar conditions. In general, the reconstitution behavior of dried milk products made
from buffalo milk is indistinguishable from those made from cow milk. However, dried buffalo milk may be preferred over dried cow milk for those
technological applications where higher levels of undenatured whey proteins would be more
desirable. Better
cheese:
Cheese made from buffalo milk displays typical body and textural
characteristics. More specifically, where chewing and stringing properties are
specially desired as in the case of Mozzarella cheese, buffalo milk
is technologically preferable over cow milk. In Italy, recently legislation has
been introduced to restrict use of term "Mozzarella" only
to those products exclusively made from buffalo milk (without admixture with cow
milk). Certain traditional cheese varieties, such as paneer
in India or pickled cheeses from the Middle-East countries, are best made from buffalo
milk.
Better health foods:
The presence of higher levels of various bioprotective factors,
such as immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, lysozyme, lactoperoxidase
as well as bifidogenic factors, render buffalo milk more suitable
than cow milk for the preparation of a wide range of special dietary and health foods.
Top |
|
