Eurocode categories: Main Group 1: Milk and milk products

Core Classification version 99/1

Categories discussion and documentation

Main Group 1: Milk and milk products

Category definitions and policies

Group 1 classification

1.10/15

Liquid milks

Liquid milks are the secretion of the mammary gland of animals such as cow, sheep, goat, buffalo and camel, and include Human milk.

Eurocode version 93/1 did not record the species for milks, preferring to use the next level in the hierarchy to record fat content. The extra level in version 99/1 allows milks to be classified by species and then fat content, either as Milk => Cow milk => Cow milk, 3 - 4% fat or Cow milk => Cow milk, 3 - 4% fat => Cow milk, 3 - 4% fat, UHT.
The version 99/1 proposal separates Cow milk and Other milks so that the number of top-level subgroups is kept to a minimum while allowing the fat content for Cow milk to be applied at the next level down. This is seen as a temporary solution in case a unified approach to recording fat content using descriptors is developed. Then a single subgroup could be created for Liquid milks, divided by species at the next level. The subgroup would include all 'fresh' milks, including sterilised, UHT, etc. forms; descriptors should be defined to record such types of processing.
It is proposed that the category names for the milks of a particular species should be kept simple by using the common name in the singular of the species as an adjective, rather than using the plural or possessive, i.e. Cow milk, not Cows milk, Cow's milk or Cows' milk.

Updated: 25 November 1999

1.10.26

Filled milk: Filled milk is milk with the natural fat removed and replaced by a fat from an alternative source, for example a vegetable fat.

1.10.30

Evaporated milk: Evaporated milk is milk evaporated down to less than a half of its original volume. It is unsweetened.

1.10.40

Condensed milk: Condensed milk is milk evaporated down to less than a third of its original volume. It has sugar added as a preservative.

1.10.50

Buttermilk: Buttermilk is the slightly sour milk remaining after butter churning. It is now usually made by an acid-producing culturing of skimmed milk.

1.10.60

Whey: Whey is the residue from milk after removal of the casein and most of the fat.

1.30

Yogurt: Yogurt is produced from curdled or evaporated milk using a lactic starter. Some yogurts are not set and are consumed as liquids.

1.35

Other fermented milk products

In addition to the range of foods commonly referred to as Yogurt, there are other sour milk drinks produced by fermentation. A few of these are alcoholic as they are made with combined lactic and yeast ferments. These are assigned to the separate category Alcoholic fermented milk products with the others under Lactic fermented milk products.

Product Region/Country

Alcoholic fermented milk products

Kefir Eastern Europe

Koumiss Eastern Europe

Lactic fermented milk products

Busa Turkestan

Cieddu Italy

Crowdies Scotland

Dadhi India

Dough Iran

Kaeder milk Norway

Laban Zabadi Egypt

Mazoum Armenia

Skyr Iceland

Taette Northern Europe

Taette contains vegetable juices to prevent coagulation.

1.4x

Cheeses

Cheeses are classified according to their consistency and fat content. They include goat and sheep cheeses, and cheeses made from sour milk, whey or buttermilk. The Cheese subgroups are:

Fresh cheeses which are unripened, contain a lot of water and can usually be consumed with a spoon. A number of varieties are available, often with ingredients such as fruit, herbs and spices
Soft cheeses which have a firmer consistency and are easy to cut with a knife
Hard cheeses which have a long ripening period and have a lower compressibility than soft cheese

1.70.30

Water ice: Water ice is made from a simple sugar syrup flavoured with juice, purée or essence. Examples include Blackcurrant water ice and Grapefruit and gin water ice.

1.70.40

Granita: Granita is an Italian variant of Water ice in which the ice crystals form more coarsely. Examples include Lemon granita and Coffee granita.

1.70.50

Sorbet: Sorbet is made by beating whisked egg whites into the partly frozen mixture to give a smoother product than Water ice. Examples include Apple sorbet and Lemon sorbet. The term Sorbet is preferred to Sherbet since the latter can also refer to a flavoured sweet sparkling powder or drink, or a drink of sweet diluted fruit juice.

Documentation updated:		4 August 1999
Discussion updated:		25 November 1999

Ian Unwin