Dairy foods are generally products made from the milk of mammals, often cows, goats, sheep, buffalo, and other domesticated animals. Eggs are also considered dairy products, perhaps because dairies often raised chickens as well as cows.

Dairy foods are usually high-energy-yielding food products.

Types of dairy products

Milk, after optional homogenization, pasteurization, in several grades after standardization of the fat level, and possible addition of bacteria Streptococcus lactis and Leuconostoc citrovorum

• Crème fraîche, slightly fermented cream
  • Smetana, Central and Eastern European variety of sour cream
  • Clotted cream, thick spoonable cream made by heating
• Cultured buttermilk, fermented concentrated (water removed) milk using the same bacteria as sour cream
• Kefir, fermented milk drink resembling buttermilk but based on different yeast and bacteria culture
• Kumis/Airag, slightly fermented mares' milk popular in Central Asia
• Milk powder (or powdered milk), produced by removing the water from milk
  • Whole milk & buttermilk
  • Skim milk
  • Cream
  • High milk-fat & nutritional powders (for infant formulas)
  • Cultured and confectionery powders
• Condensed milk, milk which has been concentrated by evaporation, often with sugar added for longer life in an opened can
• Evaporated milk, (less concentrated than condensed) milk without added sugar
• Ricotta cheese, milk heated and reduced in volume, known in Indian cuisine as Khoa
• Infant formula, dried milk powder with specific additives for feeding human infants
• Baked milk, a variety of boiled milk that has been particularly popular in Russia
• Butter, mostly milk fat, produced by churning cream
• Buttermilk, the liquid left over after producing butter from cream, often dried as livestock food
• Ghee, clarified butter, by gentle heating of butter and removal of the solid matter
• Anhydrous milkfat
• Cheese, produced by coagulating milk, separating from whey and letting it ripen, generally with bacteria and sometimes also with certain molds
• Curds, the soft curdled part of milk (or skim milk) used to make cheese (or casein)
• Whey, the liquid drained from curds and used for further processing or as a livestock food
• Cottage cheese
• Quark
• Cream cheese, produced by the addition of cream to milk and then curdled to form a rich curd or cheese made from skim milk with cream added to the curd
• Fromage frais
• Casein
• Caseinates
• Milk protein concentrates and isonates
• Whey protein concentrates and isonates
• Hydrolysates
• Mineral concentrates
• Yogurt, milk fermented by Streptococcus salivarius ssp. thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus sometimes with additional bacteria, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus
• Ayran
• Lassi
• Clabber (food), milk naturally fermented top yogurt-like state
• Gelato, slowly frozen milk and water, lesser fat than ice cream
• Ice cream, slowly frozen cream and emulsifying additives
• Ice milk
• Frozen custard
• Frozen yogurt, yogurt with emulsifiers that is frozen
• Other
• Viili
• Kajmak
• Filmjölk
• Piimä
• Vla
• Dulce de leche

Health risks of consuming dairy products

Dairy may cause health issues for individuals with lactose intolerance and milk allergies. Vegans and some vegetarians avoid dairy products due to a variety of ethical, dietary, environmental, political, and religious concerns.