Yoghurt is a derivative product of milk.
As like cheese, yoghurt is a traditional and ancient way for storing and preserving milk.
Nowadays is mixed with flavourings, fruits, nuts, cereal and other ingredients. In the last 50 years has become a very popular product for the consumer market.
Today the choices available in the market for yoghurt have greatly increased: low fat yoghurt, non fat yoghurt, bio yoghurt, drinking yoghurt, frozen yoghurt, baby yoghurt, etc. The packaging and marketing has become a key part of the yoghurt selling strategy.
Whole milk, skimmed milk and other types of milk are used depending on the yoghurt that wants to be produced. Sometimes milk is put through a homogenization process, and sometimes gums and stabilizers are added to increase the texture.
For yogurt making, milk composition is modified by a standardization process that typically involves reducing the fat content and increasing the total solids. It is then pasteurized to kill bacteria and homogenized to consistently disperse fat molecules.
Once milk has been pasteurized and homogenized, the milk is then cooled and the fermentation culture is added. Fermentation increases the shelf-life of products. The incubation process takes place for 3 to 4 hours and it can be done in large tanks, gallons or even in each individual package. Lactic acid is a byproduct of this process.
Fruit, flavors or other additives can be added to the yogurt along different phases of the manufacturing process.
Yogurt can be packed in thermoplastic cans, glass and pouches.
As a general rule the equipment necessary for a yoghurt plant is the following:
- Milk reception units
- homogenizers
- pasteurizers
- mixing units
- CIP and SIP
- Filling and sealing machines
- Packaging machines
- Palletizers
Other cultured milk products MachinePoint can help your produce are: Cheese, Crème fraîche, Cultured sour cream, Filmjölk, Yoghurt, Kefir, Kumis, Viili, Cultured buttermilk, Acidophilus milk.
