Abstract : Abstract: Goat milk production is a dynamic and growing industry that is fundamental to the wellbei
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Abstract : Abstract: Goat milk production is a dynamic and growing industry that is fundamental to the wellbeing of hundred of millions of people worldwide and is an important part of the economy in many countries. The aim of the present review is to provide an integrated and critical analysis of the major aspects in this field to highlight unexploited nutritional potential of goat milk and the need for improvements, particularly in food-safety. First, it should be kept in mind that goat milk like cow milk delivers many nutrients with relatively low energy content, and is relevant to the health of consumers throughout the life cycle. In addition, our review presents data suggesting that goat milk possesses many advantages over cow's milk, for use as a nutritional source for infants and children and as a medicinal food. Furthermore, we suggest that goats, by consuming large amounts of natural browsing plants all year around, is a potentially overlooked "treasure trove", with respect to health promoting components. Our survey suggests that total bacterial count that is currently used as the major quality measure to prevent pathogen-related food toxiciosis in Europe and the USA is not sufficiently effective. We propose the inclusion of somatic cells count as a routine criterion to qualify the hygienic status of goat milk, and discuss the physiological and biochemical basis for this. Finally, we present a novel mechanism controlling milk secretion, and demonstrate the use of this knowledge in making decisions for two major managemental tasks that farmers face: i) Milking frequency that dictates to large extent the milk yield and workload in the farm, and ii) Helping to deal with subclinical mastitis, which is the single major cause for economical losses in dairy farms worldwide.bibtex | endnote | procite (RIS) | ISI | XML Abstract: Goat milk production is a dynamic and growing industry that is fundamental to the wellbeing of hundred of millions of people worldwide and is an important part of the economy in many countries. The aim of the present review is to provide an integrated and critical analysis of the major aspects in this field to highlight unexploited nutritional potential of goat milk and the need for improvements, particularly in food-safety. First, it should be kept in mind that goat milk like cow milk delivers many nutrients with relatively low energy content, and is relevant to the health of consumers throughout the life cycle. In addition, our review presents data suggesting that goat milk possesses many advantages over cow's milk, for use as a nutritional source for infants and children and as a medicinal food. Furthermore, we suggest that goats, by consuming large amounts of natural browsing plants all year around, is a potentially overlooked "treasure trove", with respect to health promoting components. Our survey suggests that total bacterial count that is currently used as the major quality measure to prevent pathogen-related food toxiciosis in Europe and the USA is not sufficiently effective. We propose the inclusion of somatic cells count as a routine criterion to qualify the hygienic status of goat milk, and discuss the physiological and biochemical basis for this. Finally, we present a novel mechanism controlling milk secretion, and demonstrate the use of this knowledge in making decisions for two major managemental tasks that farmers face: i) Milking frequency that dictates to large extent the milk yield and workload in the farm, and ii) Helping to deal with subclinical mastitis, which is the single major cause for economical losses in dairy farms worldwide.bibtex | endnote | procite (RIS) | ISI | - Slides
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