Editorial

New name for Le Lait

When the journal Le Lait was created 86 years ago, dairy research was just in its beginning all over the world, including France. Results of experiments carried out in laboratories headed mainly by medical doctors (often pediatricians) and veterinarians were entirely published in French. This was done to help the dawning national dairy community to produce milk more hygienically and to transform it into various dairy products, notably liquid milks, cream, butter and the numerous typical cheese varieties for which France - the cheese country - was already renowned. It was thus able to provide French consumers with safe and tasty food.

After World War II, French modern dairy research was progressing in leaps and bounds, and dedicated full-time teams were installed in the main milk producing areas of France. Gradually, more and more scientists in microbiology, biochemistry, physico-chemistry, food engineering and technology joined these research teams. Studies published in Le Lait at this time reflect exactly this evolution. The need for scientists to be refereed by experts, and to exchange and to compare their results and their hypothesis became an absolute necessity in spite of the fact that most of the readers of Le Lait were members of the French dairy community. Consequently, more and more papers were published in English and nowadays, all accepted papers are in this language which is used worldwide for scientific information and exchange of knowledge.

Our editorial board, in spite of the prestigious French editing past of Le Lait, which with the Journal of Dairy Science and the Journal of Dairy Research belongs to the three oldest and most highly reputed international journals in dairy research, was obliged to take into consideration this ineluctable English writing evolution. We have decided to change the title of our journal from Le Lait to Dairy Science and Technology. To take such a decision was extremely difficult but today's dairy science, as many other fields aiming to contribute to the progress of fundamental knowledge and applied technology for producing human food, must be considered in terms of a worldwide situation.