Dear Colleagues,

Milk is one of the most nutritionally complete foods. It contains all the nutrients, such as fats, proteins, lipids, calcium, and vitamins, necessary to sustain the life of the neonate and the young infant and adds quality to the human diet.

However, milk represents a great medium for the growth of many spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. This means that the main determining factor affecting the safety of dairy products is the quality of raw milk. On the other hand, milk is also an important source of diverse and abundant probiotic microorganisms. Thus, the quality and composition of milk and dairy products must also be considered. New information on the influence of physiological, pathological, environmental, and technological factors on the quality characteristics of milk and dairy products will contribute to the progress of the sector.

The Special Issue aims to collect the latest research progress in understanding the role of milk and dairy products. This is a call for relevant research publications to reflect the most recent progress and/or to highlight relevant points of scientific emphasis, including future directions. You are encouraged to submit one or more manuscripts to this Special Issue; research articles, communications, and scientific reviews are welcome. Relevant topics include (but are not limited to) the following:

(1) microbial analysis related to dairy products, and identification of harmful bacteria in milk and dairy products;

(2) biological functions and screening of probiotics;

(3) control methods and technology of milk and dairy products;

(4) milk and dairy products quality;

(5) novel foods;

(6) milk and dairy product safety;

(7) developing dairy products with functions that fortify human health;

(8) milk allergy;

(9) effect of processing technologies as strategies for quality maintenance;

(10) chemistry, structure, and characteristics of milk of different species/breeds.  

We believe that this Special Issue will serve as a platform to improve the understanding of the role of milk and dairy products.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Carlotta Ceniti
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Ruminants is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

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