On the valorization of lactose and its derivatives from cheese whey as a dairy industry by-product: an overview

• Published in: European food research & technology 2020-11, Vol.246 (11), p.2161-2174
• Main Authors: Rocha, João M., Guerra, Alexandra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Analytical Chemistry; Biotechnology; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Food Science; Forestry; Review Article
• ISSN: 1438-2377; 1438-2385
• DOI: 10.1007/s00217-020-03580-2

The resulting whey from cheese manufacture consists mainly of water and lactose, a sugar with little sweetening and fermentable power and low commercial value. Aiming at valorizing the whey and faced with the challenge to reduce and treat an industrial wastewater present at high volumes and composed of high organic load, several ways to enhance the commercial value lactose have been sought. Thanks to the functional and technological traits of lactose and to the biotechnological advances, several applications have been proposed either for direct use or for the production and application of chemical and enzymatic derivatives or by-products from microbiological processes. Nowadays, lactose has numerous potential applications in food, feed, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, an overview of which is given in this review. On the other hand, many compounds of high added value are produced from lactose, such as oligosaccharides with prebiotic properties, lactobionic acid with antioxidant properties, lactitol as sweetener with dietetic and prebiotic functions, and lactulose as prebiotic ingredient. Nevertheless, the implementation of industrial processes for whey collection and lactose recovery and valorization faces practical difficulties, particularly of logistical and financial investment nature. This communication aims at giving an overview with respect to the problems associated with the high volumes of whey produced in the dairy industry and some of the foremost technological routes for its commercial exploitation through the use of lactose and its derivatives. It also presents a set of considerations regarding the main bottlenecks to overcome towards the creation and implementation of integrated systems tailored for collecting and processing cheese whey in an efficient, sustainable and cost-effective approach.