A foreign research team made whey into packaging
A group of researchers from Spanish technology centres, universities, cheesemakers and plastics companies have collaborated to create packaging made from whey - a natural by-product of cheese production that has antifungal and natural properties that prolong the shelf life of cheese. The shelf life is up to 10 days.
The study, named Project Orléans, was sponsored by the Valencian Community Agri-Food Business Federation, Empress, Center for Plastics Technology, the University of Valencia, Archer Daniels Midland Biooplis and Giza Dos Hermans and La Cabezuela lead.
The team also reintroduced discarded whey into the cheese industry as a probiotic ingredient in animal feed. Whey is a by-product that is currently wasted in small and medium cheese companies and is also environmentally damaging due to its high organic load. The project reuses whey in packaging to improve cheese preservation, reduce food waste and provide animal welfare probiotic additives to livestock feed.
AIMPLAS active coating
First, AIMPLAS has developed a whey-based coating with antifungal activity that extends the shelf life of cheese by 25% to 50%. This active coating involves the use of traditional printing techniques in the packaging.
Secondly, the University of València is committed to screening antifungal strains in whey and obtaining bioactive components through fermentation. The probiotic capacity and suitability for addition to animal feed of active ingredients derived from whey are responsible for ADM Biopolyphenols.
Cheesemakers La Cabezuela in Madrid and Dos Hermanas in Huelva supply the whey, select the cheeses and validate the new packaging. The team claims that this approach is one of the most effective solutions to food waste and promotes competitiveness and innovation in the dairy industry.
Second: Less waste, less additives
By developing natural active packaging with extended shelf life, new business opportunities can be opened up with customers in remote areas, Aimplas said.
"Thanks to a commitment to innovation and technology, new solutions are available for small cheesemakers, who account for more than 90% of all cheesemakers in Spain," said the research partnership.
In addition to validating these developments among partner cheesemakers, FEDACOVA also replicated the project results to the Valencian agri-food industry at a meeting held in Valencia, Spain on February 23. The Go Orleans project responds to the needs of cheesemakers to recycle waste, reduce food waste, and bring to market new production and preservation processes to extend the shelf life of their products.
