One of the major problems of the food industry is the disposal of waste generated in their production processes. In the brewing industry, surplus yeast - Saccharomyces cerevisiae - corresponds to a natural byproduct from the fermentation process of the beverage. Therefore, most of these yeasts are sold for incorporation into animal feed or in rare cases are eliminated as production residue, representing a serious environmental problem. On the other hand, whey resulting from cheese production is also a byproduct of dairy industry with high-protein content, where most are sold as dry whey or in the form of protein concentrates.. Both byproducts have high protein value, so the extraction of extracts rich in biopeptides, through the hydrolysis using new enzymes, is an interesting target of study, because they present several biological activities, namely immunomodulatory, antihypertensive, antioxidant, antimicrobial, prebiotic, among others. Peptidic extracts from both by-products can be incorporated into functional foods in order to satisfy the growing consumer interest in the beneficial effect of certain health foods.
In summary, the main objective of this project was to evaluate whey protein and yeast remaining in the production of cheese and beer, respectively, through the development, characterization and validation of these fractions, in particular in the production of peptide concentrates and obtaining β-glucans with biological activities recognized for incorporation into functional foods.
