NDRI-National Dairy Research Institute (Deemed University)

The mandate of division is to conduct fundamental and applied research for understanding chemistry of milk and milk products, to impart educational programmes for undergraduate and postgraduate courses and to provide R&D support towards chemical-quality control related problems of the dairy industry.

The Division has contributed significant knowledge on the chemistry of milk and milk products. The salient achievements are: evaluation of physico-chemical properties of buffalo milk and alteration in its calcium and casein levels and micellar stability enabling manufacture of satisfactory products like cheese, condensed milk and rasogolla; humanization of buffalo milk and glyceride structure of buffalo milk fat; evaluating role of phospholipids in stability of dairy products; revealing chemistry of ghee and ghee residue flavour; antioxidant properties of ghee residue; chemical make up and structural integrity of milk fat globule membrane; influence of various processing parameters on the major minerals and trace elements and their partitioning; rapid and simple methods for the determination of SNF in milk; formulation of quality standards of milk and milk products now prescribed by the Central Committee of Food Standards under the Ministry of Health as well as Bureau of Indian Standards; modification of Gerber test for simultaneous estimation of milk fat and availability of fat for detection of adulteration; simple tests for the detection of adulteration of milk and milk products; methods of manufacturing of butter and cheese colour from annatto seeds; preparation of rennet from fistulated calves and vegetable sources; structure and bacteriostatic role of lactoferrin; characterization and crystallization of buffalo lactoperoxidase; functional properties of WPC; renovation of rancid ghee and role of antioxidants in enhancing the shelf life of fat rich dairy products; effect of processing treatments on vitamins; status of pesticides and antibiotic residues in milk and milk products; methodologies for non-dairy whitener, low fat frozen dessert, calcium fortified milk, coconut filled Gouda cheese and low cholesterol ghee- patents in pipe-line; a platform test for detection of detergent in milk; a colour based test to detect adulteration of milk with 2.5 to 10% soya milk; a multi-purpose device for dialysis; buffer exchange and concentration; a rapid method of cholesterol estimation in anhydrous milk fat using diagnostic kit based method was developed. A method has been developed for the estimation of urea in milk using ammonia sensing electrode; a simple test known as “apparent solidification time test” has been developed for detection of foreign oils and fats adulterated in ghee; immobilized urease with enhanced storage and thermal stability; methods for cholesterol estimation using enzymatic diagnostic kit and o-phthaldehyde (OPA) reagent; technology for preparation of artificially sweetened whey lemon beverage and high antioxidant based fruit whey beverages.