4. Discussion
The addition of citrate lowered the viscosity of the cream after homogenization, enhancing miscibility of the homogenized cream with the skim milk during the standardization process. The homogeneity of the mixture of skim milk and homogenized citrated cream enables the use of an alternative method to process FCMP as the mixture could then be evaporated and dried. Without the addition of citrate to the cream, the cream plug obtained after homogenization of high solids cream was not amenable to further processing steps of just mixing with skim milk for producing a homogenous standardized milk. The option of only homogenizing the cream fraction without the addition of citrate is not an option for commercial practice.