King of Protein: How Is Whey Protein Made

Strong athletes and energetic elderly people may have some similarities in their diet. Whey protein is a nutritional component that can help people of all ages and lifestyles improve their physical health. Whey protein can enhance immunity, provide nutrition for recovered patients, and also meet the nutritional needs of infants. How is whey protein made? Let’s explore together!

What is whey protein?

Whey protein is the basic supplement that every person who wants to gain muscle needs the most because it can help those who want to gain muscle reduce their body fat content and improve their health. Whey protein can bring you all the elements and nutrients your body needs. It is a protein extracted from milk. 87% of milk is water, 13% is milk solids, and 27% is milk protein in milk solids. Only 20% of milk protein is whey protein, and the remaining 80% is casein, so the content of whey protein in milk is only 0.7%. The amount of whey protein isolated from milk is rare. Whey protein is considered the “king of proteins” in nutrition and is the main component of human milk protein, rich in all essential amino acids needed by the human body. It has many advantages such as high purity, appropriate amino acid ratio, easy digestion and absorption by the human body, and contains bioactive peptides such as lactoglobulin, whey protein, immunoglobulin, lactoferrin, and various peptides. It can effectively improve nutritional status has high nutritional value and is easy to digest and absorb. Since it has so many benefits for the human body, how is whey protein made?

How is whey protein made?

Whey is a byproduct in the production of cheese or casein. The total solid content of whey accounts for half of the total dry matter of raw milk, and its main components include lactose, whey protein, minerals, etc. Whey protein accounts for 20% of total milk protein, and vitamins and minerals are also present in milk. With the development of industrialization, whey protein products are also being updated and replaced, including whey powder, whey concentrate protein, whey isolate protein, and whey hydrolyzed protein. The concentrations of protein, lipids, lactose, and minerals in these products vary.

Whey protein concentrate is a type of whey protein isolated and purified from by-products of the cheese industry through ultrafiltration technology.

Whey isolate protein is a by-product of cheese production. Whey is separated through a special cross-flow filtration process and specialized fractionation technology to obtain whey protein products with a protein content of over 90%. Compared to whey concentrate protein, it has a higher protein content and almost no lactose and milk fat.

Whey hydrolyzed protein is derived from fresh sweet whey and processed through a special laminar flow separation process. It is partially hydrolyzed by enzymatic hydrolysis technology to obtain protein and peptide complexes. The resulting oligopeptides and free amino acids give the product certain functional characteristics. At the same time, due to its relatively complex process, its price is higher than the first two.

The production process of whey protein concentrate products can be summarized as three steps. Firstly, the pre-treatment of whey. It is necessary to use automatic slag removal and centrifugal separators to remove bacterial fermenting agent cells from whey. The second step is whey ultrafiltration. The suitable temperature for ultrafiltration is 50 ℃ (up to 55 ℃). For products with protein content exceeding 60% to 65%, it is necessary to use re-filtration. The final step is drying. The intercepted liquid after ultrafiltration needs to be stored under refrigeration conditions (4 ℃). The intercepted liquid can be heat treated at 66-72 ℃ for 15 seconds to reduce the total number of bacteria.

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed how is whey protein made. With the development of industrialization, whey protein products are constantly being updated and replaced, and as we introduced earlier, there are also certain differences in production technologies among different products. However, there are currently two main forms of whey protein on the market: whey protein isolate and whey protein concentrate. The production process of both can be roughly divided into three steps - whey pretreatment, whey ultrafiltration, and drying. This process can maximize the retention of nutrients and reduce the content of bacteria and other substances, making it healthier. If you also need it, you can try to purchase some well-known brands as they are relatively more reliable.