Industrial Waste Whey as a Low-Cost, Efficient, and Environmentally Safe Disinfectant, with Potential Applications for Minimally Processed Foodstuff

Fresh-cut fruit and vegetables are becoming a rapidly growing area of the horticultural industry, with correspondingly high customer demand, as they provide a quick and reliable means to get healthful items. Sanitizing procedures are frequently included in fresh-cut processing, with chlorine washing being the most common option. Alternative disinfection chemicals have become increasingly popular as a result of chlorine’s negative health consequences. In this context, fermented cheese whey has showed promise as a natural sanitizer, but its efficacy in fresh-cut produce has been questioned. Furthermore, because it still retains a high organic load, it continues to be a hazard for the environment.

We set out to create a low-cost, scalable fermentation procedure for producing a disinfectant from dairy waste with low organic content and high lactic acid levels. Industrial whey from sheep, goat, and cow milk was fermented with a specific mesophilic-lactic acid bacteria starter mix during a 120-hour fermentation period, yielding the highest lactic acid production and lowest lactose level. Antibacterial activity was determined to be strongest after 120 hours against Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, and Escherichia coli O157:H7, as well as a total of thirteen other food pathogenic and spoilage pathogens.

We tested the efficacy of this whey as a disinfection in shredded lettuce and compared it to that of chlorine, looking at microbiological quality, texture, colour, and sensory perception, pH, and O2 and CO2 measurements. Not only was microbiological quality better (p 0.05) when we used our whey solution, but the quality indicators for whey were statistically identical to those treated with chlorine. As a result, our findings support the use of an industrial waste whey as a low-cost, efficient, and environmentally friendly disinfection, with potential uses for minimally processed foods as a chlorine substitute.

Author (S) Details

Maria Isabel S. Santos
Linking Landscape Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande, 376, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal.

Ana Isabel G. Lima
Linking Landscape Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande, 376, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal.

Laurentina Pedroso
Linking Landscape Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande, 376, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal.

Isabel Sousa
Linking Landscape Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal.

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