OKTAY YERLIKAYA*, ASLI AKPINAR, F. ARTEMIS TORUNOGLU, OZER KINIK, NECATI AKBULUT, HARUN UYSAL
*Corresponding author
Ege University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Dairy Technology 35100, Bornova-Izmir, Turkey

Abstract

This research examined that using of polydextrose (1 percent), inulin (1 percent) and oligofructose (1 percent) combination effected on growth and activity of probiotic bacteria in whey beverages. The reconstituted whey was prepared as 9 percent total solids and was pasteurized at 65ºC for 30 minutes. Pasteurized reconstituted whey was mixed with UHT light milk at different rates (0, 50, 70, 100 percent whey) and these mixtures were inoculated with three types of commercial probiotic culture; 3 percent culture (1:1:1) Lactobacillus acidophilus La-5, Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis Bb-12 and Streptococcus thermophilus St-36. It was seen that growth of Bifidobacterium lactis Bb-12 was not influenced by addition of prebiotics in whey and milk beverages significantly negatively during 21 days of cold storage (at 4°C), but other probiotic species were influenced. When the whey beverages were compared with and without prebiotic addition, we noticed that whey beverages enriched with prebiotics had slightly higher bacteria viability during fermentation and storage. More research is needed using other probiotic bacteria production of fermented whey drinks.

INTRODUCTION

Over the years numerous efforts have been made to transform large volumes of whey generated as by-product of the cheese industry into a suitable product for food use. Whey constitutes about 85-90 percent of the milk volume used for transformation into ripened cheese, and it retains about 55 percent of the milk nutrients. Liquid whey is composed of lactose (5 percent), water (93 percent), proteins (0.85 percent), minerals (0.53 percent) and a minimum amount of fat (0.36 percent). Whey proteins have high biological value superior to other proteins such as those of egg, soy and caseins of milk mainly due to the high content of branched-chain essential amino acids (isoleucine, leucine and valine) (15).
However, the use of whey and whey products in human nutrition is poor. Therefore attempts were made to include whey in different products such as yoghurt, milk-based spreads and bread. To include whey in all of these products, it was necessary to transform liquid whey into a powder form. That process included new technology and therefore the price of whey powder has increased. As today greater attention is focused on a healthy lifestyle an ...