Microfiltration of raw milk for production of high-purity milk fat globule membrane material

Commercial ingredients containing milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) material are currently isolated from heavily processed dairy streams. The aim of this study was to achieve a more gentle isolation of MFGM material by means of ceramic dia-microfiltration of raw whole milk to separate fat globules from casein micelles and whey proteins prior to MFGM extraction. A pilot-scale experiment with 1.4 μm pore size (membrane surface area 1.05 m2) resulted in an optimal outcome of low permeation of fat (2.5% permeation) and high permeation of proteins (97% permeation). This yielded an MFGM isolate with 7% w/w polar lipids and 30% w/w proteins, where contamination of non-MFGM proteins was only 25% of total protein content. Furthermore, mild pasteurization (72 °C, 15 s) introduced either before or after microfiltration had no impact on filtration efficiency or MFGM yield and composition. The work describes an industrially relevant production method for a less-processed MFGM material of high purity with potential for further separation and valorisation of protein-rich permeate streams.