By-product in cheesemaking: Whey and its high potential to be a valuable raw material for a new product

During cheese production, cheese whey is produced as a byproduct of cheese manufacture. This byproduct can be utilised to make other products, such as whey protein powder. According to NZMP, Whey industry has been proliferating in recent years as consumers understand the value and benefits of whey protein. However, the cheese whey is currently disposed of as pig feed due to the generally unfavourable economic of small scale whey processing. In addition, NZ specialty cheesemakers usually tend to have small cheese batches, which makes it hard to convert the whey into valuable whey protein products for profit.

This report looks at possible whey utilisation options.