The processing of whey in Belarus has increased by almost 90% over the past 16 years
The share of whey processing in Belarus increased by almost 90% from 2004 to 2020. In particular, in 2004, only 8% of 1 million tons of these products were processed. In 2020, 97.7% of 3 million tons of whey was processed in the country. The remaining 2% of the total volume of this production was used for livestock feeding.
According to Oleg Dymar, 97.7% is a fairly high indicator in terms of processing volumes. For example, in Ukraine, only 25% of the whey produced in the country is processed, in Russia — 35%.
The indicators achieved in Belarus are the result of the action of the profile republican program for many years, Oleg Dymar explained.
According to him, in Belarus, interest in the processing of whey began to grow since the early 2000s. At that time, milk production increased in the country, and the relevant ministry decided to develop cheese production. ‘And where there is cheese, there is always whey,’ the expert reminded.
However, despite the fact that only 2% of whey is not used, its processing technologies are still at a low level in Belarus. ‘Production of whey powder is the very initial, the first level of technologies for its processing, we have already more or less mastered it. With the introduction of, for example, membrane technologies, everything is already more difficult for us. The next level is hydrolysis and isolation of individual groups of proteins – many have not heard about it yet. Would we be able to make products such as children's and sports nutrition without this technology? We can, but at the same time, we resemble a monkey with a gun. She pulled the trigger, bullets flew out – and that was it. In this case, the gun and bullets are advanced technologies, in particular, membrane ones,’ he said.
Another problem in the industry, according to Oleg Dymar, is difficulties with training and retraining of personnel.
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