Composición química, pretratamiento, valorización y empleo de suero de queso y sus subproductos como sustrato en fermentaciones: Una revisión global

Cheese whey is a yellowish liquid resulting from the co-precipitation and removal of casein from milk during the cheese production process. It is currently considered a major pollutant due to its high organic load, which is why it is often considered a waste product. However, cheese whey has a high nutritional value that allows it to be exploited as a substrate to obtain high-added-value products. An economical way to achieve this goal is the biotransformation of cheese whey into specific valuable products, both individual (biohydrogen, bioethanol, lactic acid, etc.) and the formulation of foods and beverages (kefir), based on fermentation with bacteria, yeasts, or fungi. This review article aims to compile and summarize the currently available published information regarding the chemical composition of cheese whey, its use as a substrate in fermentations, its pretreatment processes, its valorization as a raw material at industrial scale, as well as the use of cheese whey derivatives to obtain specific chemical products through microbial fermentation.