It is no secret that in Europe dairy products, and especially cheese, represent a separate category of food products, both with increased storage complexity and with consistently high prices for it. It is also no secret that the production of cheese is not a fast process, after which a lot of whey remains, which is essentially waste.

And in Spain, they decided to think about how to use this waste according to the principles of a circular economy. Four large organizations, in cooperation with two cheese companies, received a grant from the Spanish government for almost 600 thousand euros for development in two directions. The first and the main one is the invention of packaging for cheese, the active component of which would be whey. It is assumed that such packaging will be able to extend the shelf life of cheese by 25-50%. The second area of development is whey-based probiotics for adding to feed.

As we have already noted, there are four participants in the project: AIMPLAS, ADM Biópolis, FEDACOVA (Valencia Community of Agri-Food Business Federation) and the University of Valencia. Each of them is responsible for a certain part of the development. For example, AIMPLAS is working on formulating a functional coating containing whey as an active ingredient with antimicrobial properties, and the University of Valencia is contributing to the study of this antimicrobial activity.

While the project is at the initial stage of development. However, its huge potential and opportunities give hope that the research will be carried out as quickly and efficiently as possible. And that in the near future we will see whey-based packaging, giving the opportunity to turn waste into a useful part of production.

The materials of the websites aimplas.net, goorleans.com were used.