Dairy waste by-products: An updated Review
1 Department of Applied Botany, Mangalore University, Mangalagangotri-574199, Mangalore (DK), Karnataka State, India.
2Mahasatee Arts, Commerce and Science College, Ulga. Karwar (Uttar Kannada), Karnataka State, India.
3 Department of Botany, Bangurnagar Arts, Science and Commerce College, Dandeli-581325, Karnataka State, India.
4 Food Science and Nutrition, Department of Biosciences, Mangalore University, Mangalagangotri- 574199, Mangalore (DK), Karnataka State, India.
5 Miller Blvd, NW, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Review
International Journal of Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences Archive, 2026, 11(01), 034-040.
Article DOI: 10.53771/ijbpsa.2026.11.1.0013
Publication history:
Received on 12 December 2025; revised on 18 January 2026; accepted on 01 February 2026
Abstract:
The dairy sector plays an important major role in the food industry, providing essential products such as milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, and milk powder to meet the global population's needs. Dairy waste can be broadly classified into 2 groups mainly liquid waste (whey, washed water, cleaning agent), and solid waste (Expired milk and milk products, packaging material, sludge) which can further be categorized into edible by-product waste (cheese whey, buttermilk, yoghurt whey, cream residue) and non-edible dairy waste (Packaging material, sludge, dairy scum, untreated water, cleaning agent, spoiled milk). These wastes can be a substrate for large scale production of biomass, biopolymer and generating energy using integration of technologies. The wastewater contains high organic load due to presence of carbohydrates, protein, and fats that come from milk. Microbial valorization strategies like fermentation, enzymatic hydrolysis and biosynthesis can be used to produce a large variety of value-added bio-products like biofertilizers, biopolymers, biofuels, biosurfactants, bioactive compounds, organic acids, enzymes and others. Therefore, valorizing dairy waste into useful products presents a significant advantage for the dairy industry.
Keywords:
Biofertilizer; Biosurfactants; Dairy Waste; Exopolysaccharid; Fermentaion; Milk; Sludge; Valorization; Whey
Full text article in PDF:
Copyright information:
Copyright © 2026 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0