Abstract
Globally, milk is extensively used for the production of value added dairy products owing to its rich nutritional profile.
Similarly, innovative dairy products can be formulated by changing the functional characteristics of milk caseins. Current
research was planned to assess the compositional, functional and physicochemical characteristics of phosphocaseinate
powder prepared from buffalo milk. The size of casein was determined through master sizer. Chemical profiling of the tested
powder revealed that it contains total protein, non casein nitrogen, non protein nitrogen, moisture, ash and total solids as
87.82±0.28, 0.79±0.02, 0.48±0.01, 4.22±0.10, 8.57±0.11 and 95.76±5.10%, respectively. Furthermore, phosphocaseinate
powder contained sodium (6.79±0.39 mg/100g), potassium (2.98±0.75 mg/100g), calcium (9.68±0.08 mg/100g), magnesium
(10.44±0.03 mg/100g) and phosphorus (12.25±0.05 mg/100g). Different suspensions of phosphocaseinate powder i.e. 1, 2, 3,
4 and 5% were used to optimize the functional properties. The results revealed that 5%suspension had the highest
foaming stability (89.17±3.79%), foaming capacity (49.15±2.82%), emulsion capacity (39.57±1.97%), emulsion stability
(74.49±0.98%) and protein solubility (37.09±1.48%). However, the particle size of phosphocaseinate suspensions was
increased by lowering the pH. Conclusively, phosphocaseinate of buffalo milk has exceptional protein features which can be
exploited in numerous food products to expand their functional properties.
