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Whey proteins have excellent nutritional characteristics due to their levels of essential amino acids with high bioavailability. However, they have a high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and a considerable polluting potential, thus, food manufacturers have opted to add whey to food formulations. The demand for beverages, containing vitamins, probiotics, prebiotics, minerals, and bioactive compounds (antioxidants) with health benefits, has increased and driven market growth. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a probiotic functional carbonated beverage from cheese whey and evaluate its microbiological and physicochemical characteristics soon after production and during storage. The viability and stability of probiotics, as well as the microbiological characteristics, titratable acidity and sedimentation of the beverage, were monitored during one month of refrigerated storage. The probiotic to be added to the formulation was established in a preliminary step. The production of this beverage proved to be a simple technology, and the product was suitable for the incorporation of the probiotic, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis. The probiotic showed good viability and stability during storage. The microbiological quality of the beverage met the Brazilian legal standards. The pH and titratable acidity of the probiotic carbonated beverage remained stable during storage, and slight sedimentation was observed after one week of refrigerated storage.

Recently the food industry has been attempting to innovate its products to meet consumer demands for health benefits from their food. Thus, the objective of this research was to study the combination of technologies to obtain a pasteurised, microfiltered, and lactose-hydrolysed skim milk with an extended shelf life and with added probiotics (PMLHSP). This PMLHSP was subjected to physicochemical, microbiological and sensory evaluations, plus its shelf life was estimated at 5 °C. The viability of the probiotics in this system was also evaluated during storage at 5 °C and indicated a shelf life of about 28 days. The probiotic culture added to the microfiltered skim milk presented good viability in the product throughout refrigerated storage, with counts of above 8 log CFU/mL.

An increasing share of foods with reduced fat has been observed in the diet of the Brazilian population, a trend also seen in many other countries. In this context, our-aim was to study the manufacturing parameters and to develop a process to produce a spreadable processed cheese (requeijao cremoso) with reduced fat content. In the first stage of this study, modifications were performed in the traditional manufacturing process of requeijao cremoso with regular fat content to produce a reduced fat product. During the second stage of this study, two reduced fat cheeses, with and without the addition of whey protein concentrate (WPC) were developed, both using JOHA S9 and JOHA PZ as emulsifying salts, resulting in four different formulations. The amounts of cream and water used in both products were calculated in order to obtain a final product with 10% fat and 33% total solids. The product which presented the best results was produced with curd obtained by direct acidification of skimmed milk heated at 68-70 oC, using 1,3% emulsifying salt JOHA S9 in the melting process and 2% WPC 34% as a partial fat substitute, both calculated as a percentage of the amount of curd used as raw material. It was also important to add WPC 34% to the product at the first cooking step of the process (70 oC), in order to obtain a final product with the typical spreadable texture of the traditional requeijao cremoso.