Abstract
Abstract This study aimed to carry out a diagnosis of the cheese whey exploitation by the Brazilian dairy industry using a questionnaire survey. The dairy industries (n=100) were mainly from Southeast (55%) and South (25%) regions and supervised by the Federal Inspection System (80%). Most of them produced (67%) and processed (60%) sweet cheese whey, using it in whey dairy beverages (60%), Ricotta (20%), whey concentrate (15%), and milk blends (5%), which were resold for supermarkets (53%) or industries (20%). However, 27% of the industries discard whey in the effluent treatment system or use as animal feed, suggesting a market for using this by-product.
Highlights
Cheese is a well known and popular dairy food produced around the world, and cheese processing involves several steps, including the addition of rennet, lactic acid and/or lactic acid cultures, coagulation, cutting the curd, syneresis, and storage (Brighenti et al, 2018)
This study aims to investigate the exploitation of cheese whey in Brazil through a questionnaire survey
This study performed an interesting diagnosis of the use of cheese whey by Brazilian dairy processors, demonstrating that the dairy industries are aware of the benefits of the addition of whey in the manufacture of new products, for economic reasons and preservation of the environment
Summary
Cheese is a well known and popular dairy food produced around the world, and cheese processing involves several steps, including the addition of rennet, lactic acid and/or lactic acid cultures, coagulation, cutting the curd, syneresis, and storage (Brighenti et al, 2018). Despite the changes in eating habits and consumption trends of the population, Mozzarella, Prato cheese, Requeijão, and Minas cheese are the varieties most preferred by the Brazilian consumers, most produced in the country (Gomes et al, 2017) In this context, regardless of the type of cheese, a large amount of effluent has been generated by the cheese industry (Carvalho et al, 2013). The disposal of untreated whey in the environment can lead to high oxygen demand, waterproofing, eutrophication, and toxicity (Mann et al, 2019) It can be used for a variety of purposes, such as biological treatments (aerobic and anaerobic digestion), fermentation (ethanol, hydrogen or lactic acid), membrane separation (protein concentrates or lactose production), soil fertilization, among others (Ahmad et al, 2019; Kelly, 2019a, b; Uduwerella et al, 2018). The noblest form of use of whey is as an ingredient in food and dairy products, as it is a low-cost and high-nutrient raw material (Smithers, 2015; Mann et al, 2019)
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