Production of a novel ingredient from buttermilk

The presence of material derived from the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) makes buttermilk (the byproduct of butter making) distinct from any other dairy product. Membrane filtration of commercial buttermilk was carried out to obtain isolates rich in MFGM material. The separation of MFGM from the skim milk proteins present in commercial buttermilk was carried out by the addition of sodium citrate followed by microfiltration through a membrane of 0.1-microm nominal pore size. The sodium citrate caused the dissociation of casein micelles and allowed permeation of a large proportion of the skim-milk derived proteins through the membrane. This process successfully concentrated MFGM material in the retentate, and demonstrated that membrane filtration can be employed to produce MFGM fractions from commercial buttermilk. The utilization of MFGM isolates from buttermilk is of increasing importance in light of recent studies suggesting the role of phospholipids in many health-related functions: buttermilk is an untapped resource of these functional components.