CONTRIBUTION TO THE VALORIZATION OF WHEY BY STUDYING THE INFLUENCE OF STORAGE CONDITIONS ON BOVINE WHEY MICROFLORA.

Despite its biochemical composition that is interesting from a nutritional and technological point of view, whey is a very polluting agent because of its rejection in wastewater, hence the importance of its recovery. This study aims to optimize the conditions of its conservation for a possible use in the field of food industry. A physico-chemical and biochemical characterization of the whey samples from the ALOUANI dairy was carried out. The variation of the microbiological quality according to the two conditions of conservation (pasteurization, refrigeration) during seven days, was also carried out. The evolution of the acidifying power of whey during its storage was part of the present study. Monitoring the evolution of banal flora and contamination during storage, has shown that the rate of contamination of bacteria decreases during storage, while that of lactic acid bacteria (lactococci, lactobacilli) tends to increase. In addition, the results indicate a synergistic action of pasteurization and refrigeration to better preserve this by-product. The acidifying power of the whey has, depending on the storage conditions, a regression during the storage time. In the first two days, the ability to acidify can be qualified as good, then this power decreases considerably as the duration of storage increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]