[1] Thixotropy is particularly valuable in paints, sauces, and similar products, partly because it counteracts tendencies towards creaming.
Creaming is usually seen as undesirable because it causes difficulties in storage and handling and can be dangerous in health care settings by causing a fat embolism (fat in the blood stream) or occluding capillaries (blockage of capillaries) if an emulsion that has undergone creaming is administered intravenously.
A particular example is in the separation of dairy cream, either to achieve a desired concentration of butterfat, or to make butter.
This class of process occurs mainly in special cases, when both the continuous and dispersed phases of an emulsion are liquid, as commonly is the state in dairy cream.
Inversion happens in dairy cream when the butterfat concentration is too high and the resulting invert emulsion looks much like butter.