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Dairy products are generally defined as foodstuffs produced from milk. A production plant for such processing is called a dairy. Raw milk for processing generally comes from cows, but occasionally from other mammals such as goats, sheep, water buffalo, yaks, or horses. Dairy Products are commonly found in European, Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine whereas they are almost unknown in East Asian cuisine.
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Types of dairy products
There are more than 30 main products made from milk with a number of sub-products in each category. Dairy products include:
Cream, the fat skimmed off the top of milk or separated by machine-centrifuges
Cultured buttermilk, fermented concentrated (water removed) milk using the same bacteria as sour cream
Milk powder (or powdered milk), produced by removing the water from milk
High milk-fat & nutritional powders (for infant formulas)
Cultured and confectionery powders
Condensed milk, milk which has been concentrated by evaporation, often with sugar added for longer life in an opened can
Evaporated milk, (less concentrated than condensed) milk without added sugar
Infant formula, dried milk powder with specific additives for feeding human infants
Butter, mostly milk fat, produced by churning cream
Buttermilk, the liquid left over after producing butter from cream, often dried as livestock food
Ghee, clarified butter, by gentle heating of butter and removal of the solid matter
Cheese, produced by coagulating milk, separating from whey and letting it ripen, generally with bacteria and sometimes also with certain molds
Curds, the soft curdled part of milk (or skim milk) used to make cheese (or casein)
Whey, the liquid drained from curds and used for further processing or as a livestock food
Cream cheese, produced by the addition of cream to milk and then curdled to form a rich curd or cheese made from skim milk with cream added to the curd
Milk protein concentrates and isonates
Whey protein concentrates and isonates
Gelato, slowly frozen milk and water
Ice cream, slowly frozen cream and emulsifying additives
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Criticism
Vegans and some vegetarians avoid dairy products due to various ethical, physiological, environmental, political, and religious considerations, among others, though most people may not take up every issue.
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Eggs as dairy?
Some define dairy as "food that is produced by animals" rather than as milk specifically. Under this definition, eggs are grouped with milk products. For example, the Open Directory Project at one point listed cooking eggs as a subcategory of cooking dairy products. Defining dairy as limited to milk products, however, is more common.
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