# Trends and Opportunities in the Dairy Industry: A2 Milk and Processing Methods
###### Abstract  
Milk is a valuable raw material with incomparable nutritional and technological properties. The dairy market is a fast-growing economical area with more and more innovations emerging recently. The review identifies contemporary trends in the dairy industry, focusing on specific types of A1 and A2 milk and their applications. The A2-type milk is a promising innovation with the potential to alleviate the problem of milk consumption associated with the BCM-7 peptide which is important for many consumers. An increase in its production could also positively impact on biodiversity. A1 and A2 milk have different properties which should be analyzed in future studies. An important topic is newly developed processing methods that allow obtaining safe dairy products without a significant impact on their nutritional value and functional and sensory properties. Thermal, non-thermal, and combined processing technologies are continuously developed. However, there is currently insufficient information on the impact of processing technology on A2 milk. This will likely change in the near future. The combination of the latest technological advances will soon make it possible to provide new, increased quality of dairy products to consumers.  
milk A1 and A2; beta-caseins; milk proteins; food processing; shelf-life; dairy products; non-thermal treatments +
Footnote †: journal: _Sci_  
milk has different technological properties, e.g., longer rennet coagulation, higher curd firmness, and lower gel strength than A1-type milk [5; 6; 7]. More importantly, type A2 milk seems to cause fewer health consequences after consumption for people hypersensitive to A1 casein. Therefore, studying both types of milk and comparing their properties seems a reasonable direction for research. In the next years, the dairy industry may notice an increase in consumer interest in A2-type milk and A2 milk products. This trend also offers a choice of dairy products to people who, until now, have had health problems caused by the consumption of A1-type casein. Some researchers see the growing interest in A2-type milk as a factor that will modernize the dairy industry, which, needing to provide people with safe and high-quality milk, will be forced to move away from the current homogeneous status quo [8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13].  
Apart from milk as a raw material, the second area of innovation is the way of its processing. It is directly linked to the previous trend as any change in the parameters of a long-known raw material requires a potential redesign of all processes to ensure high-quality products. In addition to optimizing thermal processes that have been successfully used in industries for years, attempts are also made to develop and industrially implement innovative non-thermal methods that could ensure the microbiological safety of milk and have minimal impact on its nutritional and sensory parameters. Reducing the population of pathogenic micro-organisms in milk is crucial for its health value and storability. Some scientists have pointed out that a switch from traditional methods could also, with appropriate optimization, reduce energy consumption [14].  
The goal of this review is to present the latest trends in the dairy industry. First, the market and currently used milk preservation methods will be described, taking into account the available information on bovine milk types (A1 and A2) and indicating the gaps in this area of current knowledge. So far, most literature reviews on A2 milk have focused on the dietary aspects without summarizing the technological area. Therefore, this review presents dietary issues as a secondary consideration in this.