• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2014

In general, whey obtained from various cheese batches is being reused, so as to improve the texture and to increase the yield and the nutrient value of the various final milk-based products. In fact, re-usage of whey proteins, including whey cream, is a common and routine procedure. Unfortunately, most bacteriophages can survive heat treatments such as pasteurization. Hence, there is a high risk of an increase in the bacteriophage population during the cheese-making process. Whey samples contaminated with bacteriophages can cause serious problems in the cheese industry. In particular, the process of whey separation frequently leads to aerosol-borne bacteriophages and thus to a contaminated environment in the dairy production plant. In addition, whey proteins and whey cream reused in a cheese matrix can be infected by bacteriophages with thermal resistance. Therefore, to completely abolish the various risks of fermentation failure during re-usage of whey, a whey treatment that effectively decreases the bacteriophage population is urgently needed and indispensable. Hence, the purpose of this review is to introduce various newly developed methods and state-of-the-art technologies for removing bacteriophages from contaminated whey and whey products.