The present invention relates to a method for producing
lactoferrin, comprising the steps: a) providing (102) a starting material, which is selected from a group comprising
skimmed milk,
casein-free milk, e.g., cheese whey, and skimmed
colostrum, b) chromatographically extracting (117) liquid
lactoferrin from the starting material, c) desalinating (120) the liquid
lactoferrin by means of
ultrafiltration, and d) sterile filtering (126) the desalinated liquid lactoferrin, wherein the sterile filtered liquid lactoferrin with a dry
mass content of ≤25% has a
shelf life in uncooled storage of at least three months, preferably at least six months, and particularly preferably at least 24 months. An apparatus (300) for producing lactoferrin comprises: - a
chromatography column (317) which is designed for chromatographically extracting liquid lactoferrin from a starting material, which is selected from a group comprising
skimmed milk,
casein-free milk, e.g., cheese whey, and skimmed
colostrum, - an
ultrafiltration device (320) which is designed for desalinating the liquid lactoferrin by means of
ultrafiltration, - a
sterile filtration device (326) which is designed for sterile filtering of the desalinated liquid lactoferrin in order to obtain a
shelf life of the sterile filtered liquid lactoferrin with a dry
mass content of ≤25% in uncooled storage of at least three months, preferably at least six months, and particularly preferably at least 24 months, and - a control device (333) designed and configured for controlling the
chromatography column (317), the ultrafiltration device (320) and the
sterile filtration device (326) in order to produce the sterile filtered, liquid and storable lactoferrin from the starting material. The present invention also relates to lactoferrin produced by the above-described method and to different uses of the lactoferrin produced by the above-described method as an ingredient or additive.