Cheese whey exploitation in Brazil: a questionnaire survey

Cheese whey is the main by-product generated by the cheese industry and is called sweet whey when coming from rennet-coagulated cheese and acid whey when the coagulation is performed by both the addition of acids or fermentative processes 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. This research 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.