Powdered milk

[clarification needed] While Marco Polo wrote of Mongolian Tatar troops in the time of Kublai Khan who carried sun-dried skimmed milk as "a kind of paste",[3] the first modern production process for dried milk was invented by the Russian doctor Osip Krichevsky in 1802.

However, powdered milk made this way tends to have a cooked flavour, due to caramelization caused by greater heat exposure.

Milk powders contain all 21 standard amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, and are high in soluble vitamins and minerals.

[13] According to USAID,[14] the typical average amounts of major nutrients in the unreconstituted nonfat dry milk are (by weight) 36% protein, 52% carbohydrates (predominantly lactose), calcium 1.3%, potassium 1.8%.

In the 2008 Chinese milk scandal, adulteration with melamine was found in Sanlu-brand infant formula, added to fool tests into reporting higher protein content.

[21] In August 2013, China temporarily suspended all milk powder imports from New Zealand, after a scare where botulism-causing bacteria were falsely detected in several batches of New Zealand-produced whey protein concentrate.

As a result of the product recall, the New Zealand dollar slipped by 0.8% (to 77.78 US cents) based on expected losses in sales from this single commodity.

[22] Fat-free powdered milk is used as a saturating agent to block nonspecific binding sites on supports like blotting membranes (nitrocellulose, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) or nylon),[23] preventing binding of further detection reagents and subsequent background.

The major protein of milk, casein, is responsible for most of the binding site saturation effect.