Enzymatic and physical modification of milk fat: A review

Bovine milk fat has one of the most complex compositions of all natural fats. It is composed of more than 400 different fatty acids, present primarily as triacylglycerols, which gives milk fat highly diverse functional and nutritional properties. The complexity of milk fat provides both opportunities and challenges for modifying its composition for different applications. Due to the versatility of lipid compounds, milk fat can be considered as a good source of essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins. In addition, milk fat has physically and chemically favourable properties, and it also has good sensory quality. However, the negative nutritional image of milk fat, especially certain saturated long-chain fatty acids, and poor spreadability of butter have driven development of technologies to produce milk fat fractions with different physico-chemical or nutritional properties. This article reviews the current literature on enzymatic and physical means of fractionating bovine milk fat into different fractions, and highlights their fields of usage.