Advances in dairy Research
Open Access

Dairy Production

Saira Singh^{* *}Correspondence: Saira Singh, Government College, University of Faisalabad, Pakistan, Email:

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Editorial

The animal science section will consider multidisciplinary and innovative research submissions in the following areas: Animal genetics, breeding and bioinformatics; animal nutrition, feeds and feeding. Livestock production and management - meat, dairy, wool, equine and poultry sciences; food safety and microbiology.

Over the last decade, demand for “healthy” foods and beverages has increased in many parts of the world and the diffusion of functional foods throughout the market has blurred the distinction between pharma and nutrition.

A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or in a section of a multi-purpose farm (mixed farm) that is concerned with the harvesting of milk.

Milk producing animals have been domesticated for thousands of years. Initially, they were part of the subsistence farming that nomads engaged in. As the community moved about the country, their animals accompanied them. Protecting and feeding the animals were a big part of the symbiotic relationship between the animals and the herders.

In the more recent past, people in agricultural societies owned dairy animals that they milked for domestic and local (village) consumption, a typical example of a cottage industry. The animals might serve multiple purposes (for example, as a draught animal for pulling a plow as a youngster, and at the end of its useful life as meat). In this case, the animals were normally milked by hand and the herd size was quite small, so that all of the animals could be milked in less than an hour about 10 per milker. These tasks were performed by a dairymaid.

A number of review articles have focused on the main aspects of overall functional foods, probiotic-based fermented and fruit-based beverages as well as energy Committee on Nutrition and the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness and sport drinks. However, none of the cited reports gives a comprehensive picture of the current achievements of functional beverages. Therefore, after a brief summary on the definitions, regulatory framework, and market size of functional foods, a review of the scientific advances on functional beverages is presented, with a focus on the main examples of commercially available products and potential health benefits due to their consumption.