infocus #18 June 2010 The Beauty of Milk at High Magnification

Kaláb investigates the structure of milk and how its component parts such as fats and proteins can be modified to produce milk-based products

DOI: 10.22443/rms.inf.1.55

The task of designing milk protein-based frankfurters compelled me to use electron microscopy to understand the formation of microstructure in the product. Later, I extended microscopic studies to dairy products. Their microstructures reflect the variety of interactions which the milk constituents (caseins and whey proteins, milkfat and lactose) undergo during manufacturing, often with the participation of microorganisms (bacteria or fungi). Electron microscopy reveals the details of such interactions to manufacturers and may also be used to protect the consumer.

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Author

Miloslav Kaláb

Honorary Research Associate, Eastern Cereal & Oilseed Research Centre, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada,

Miloš arrived in Canada from the former Czechoslovakia as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa in 1966. In 1968, he was hired by then Agriculture Canada to develop new milk products. To better understand the gelation of milk, he learned electron microscopy in the laboratory of Dr. G.H. Haggis. Between 1979 and 1993, Miloš helped Dr. Om Johari to organise international meetings of food microscopists and to establish a new journal, "Food Structure" in 1982 (now featured at http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Structure). He served as the Editor-in-Chief until the publisher discontinued the journal in 1993. In 1982, the American Dairy Science Association conferred the Pfizer Award on Miloš for his microstructural research of cultured milk products. In 1986 he served as a United Nations FAO consultant at the National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal (India) and in 1989 he shared his expertise with food scientists in Tsukuba (Japan) thanks to a grant from the Government of Japan. Miloš has published over 160 scientific and technical papers. After his retirement in 1995, he volunteered as an Honorary Research Associate doing part-time electron microscopy of microorganisms, foods, and blood cells. This is his fourth contribution to infocus.

Email:: milos.kalab@agr.gc.ca
Website:: www.magma.ca/~scimat/