Source: NC A&T COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, 3/28/22


Five to ten thousand years ago, when the first cow, goat or sheep herders in Mesopotamia discovered that they could not only eat the fermented milk that their warm climate had produced, but that they could make it tasty, the culinary world gained an asset: yogurt was born.

This ancient food, thought to have been eaten as long as milk-producing animals have been domesticated, not only enabled milk to be preserved through fermentation, which turns it into yogurt or cheese. It also proved to have numerous health benefits as an excellent source of protein, calcium and probiotics.

By the 20th century, yogurt had hit the big time, having migrated to Europe with travelers from Arabia, Turkey, India and Russia in the Middle Ages, then gone around the world as both a creamy, fruity breakfast and snack essential and a nutritious cooking staple.

The purpose of the fermentation process that creates yogurt had turned from simply preserving the milk product, to selling it.

Food scientist Salam Ibrahim, Ph.D., in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, has researched yogurt and its benefits for the past 22 years, and has witnessed much of yogurt’s progression from niche health food to dairy aisle powerhouse. Within this evolution, he has seen issues arise for the industry.

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