Practical consequences of calcium addition to and removal from milk and milk products

Calcium in milk is significant for both its nutritive value and its key role in many functional properties of milk and milk products. Manipulating its concentration, particularly of the ionic form, alters the properties of the products and facilitates or hinders certain processing operations. Stability to thermal treatment is the major property affected, but several others such as gelation, coagulation and foaming are influenced by either adding or removing calcium. This article reviews the manipulation of the calcium content of several products and its practical consequences for dairy processing.