Javier Caballero Villalobos

DVM | MSc | PhD | CertDHH

Profile and interests

As a veterinarian, my research career has been built on the study of milk and dairy products from ruminants, and the impact of hygienic and sanitary factors on the quality of milk intended for cheesemaking. Throughout the years, I have explored several species and breeds of domestic ruminants, focusing mainly on Manchega, the most important Spanish autochthonous sheep breed, not only due to its history, census, and production, but also as it is linked to Manchego Cheese, probably the most iconic and well-known animal Protected Designation of Origin in Spain, exporting worldwide for an economic value estimated in 260 million euros. Our research group has sought from the outset to increase producers’ awareness of the importance of factors related to milk coagulation, beyond the milk yield of a particular animal. Many of our works have highlighted the importance of the quality of milk compared to its quantity, and thanks to knowledge transfer, milk coagulation traits are being considered as positive factors to be included in genetic schemes for the improvement of animals in the flock. 

In the latest years, my work has also focused on the exploration of genomic variability of bacteria causing mastitis in ruminants and how it affects milk processing into cheese, and on the development of new low-cost technologies and predictive algorithms to determine parameters of interest in the analysis of raw milk. As the dairy industry is increasingly facing new challenges and there is a growing public concern for food safety, an efficient management of time can really make the difference in the sustainability of a particular production system. Thus, my current interest is to develop new rapid and inexpensive methods for the analysis of milk in operational environments, taking a One Health approach to ensure a sustainable and efficient management of time and resources in the cheesemaking process.