History of Milk Production

Since ancient times milk has been a vital part of society. People from the earliest of times domesticated cattle so that they have ilk readily available. Milk-producing mammals were an important part of early agriculture in the world. Goats were amongst the earliest animals that were to be domesticated in parts of Western Asia from wilderness some 10,000 years ago. It has been found that Cattle were domesticated in the eastern Sahara by no later than 9,000 years ago. It was from Southwest Asia, the domestic dairy animals were transferred to to Europe from 7000 BC. They reached Britain and West Europe by 4000 BC. The first farmers in central Europe and Britain milked their animals. Economies called pastoral or pastoral nomadic types propped up that relied on livestock especially on milk and related dairy product. Camel milk took a more important role in Middle East and Arabia in the 4th millennium BC. However, in parts of East and Southeast Asia, the Americas and Australia milk and dairy products were never a large part of the diet. These remained populated by hunters and gatherers who did not really feel the need to domesticate animals. However, it was not until the start of European colonialism in these parts that milk consumption started to take a foothold especially in the last 500 years. In the middle ages, milk was called the virtuous white liquor because alcoholic beverages were more reliable than water.

Industrialization
With the growth in urban population and subsequent expansion of the railway network in the mid-19th century, industrialization brought a huge advantage to the milk production on an industrial level. Industries and farms were mechanized throughout the Colonies of Europe especially Britain that helped pick up the production of milk to cope with rapid urbanization. In England milk was transported on rail, from rural to urban centers from the 1840s. The famous Great Western Railway began to transport milk into London in 1860. Milk trade grew slowly through the 1860s, but went through a period of extensive change in the 1870s and 80s. Along with many types of milk consumed, such has homog enized, whole milk, and skimmed milk, the current trends follow that Pasteurized milk is seeing a growing popularity. Pasteurization process was

invented in 1863 by a French chemist and biologist Louis Pasteur. It is a method of killing harmful bacteria in beverages and food products. He developed this method by working on the frequent acidity of wines. Pasteurization was originally used as a way of preventing wine and beer from souring. Germany became the pioneer in commercial pasteurizing equipment in the 1880s. Other than this, UHT Treated milk is also popular. UHT or ultra-heat treated milk is a form of milk that has been heated to 135C in order to kill off harmful micro-organisms (e.g. harmful bacteria). The milk is then packaged into sterile containers for example Tetra Packs.1

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