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.

Because of its resemblance to cocaine and other drugs, powdered milk is sometimes used in filmmaking as a non-toxic prop that may be insufflated.

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.