Caracterização das queijarias produtoras de queijo Minas artesanal: mapeamento do soro de leite e suas potencialidades

Abstract

Among the Brazilian states, Minas Gerais leads in relation to the volume of milk produced, as well as cheese. In addition to industrial cheeses, there is also a significant volume of artisanal Minas cheese production, which is much appreciated, nationally and internationally, due to its sensory characteristics arising from the region in which it was produced. With the large volume of artisanal Minas cheese produced in the state, a large volume of whey is also generated from this manufacture. This whey has high potential for use. However, due to the lack of knowledge or investment of artisanal producers, it is normally this whey is discarded incorrectly in the environment or is underused for a food animal. Many studies are being developed in order to add value to whey, but few are mapping them and and in the case of whey from artisanal Minas cheese, there are still no studies. Therefore, the objective of the work was to characterize the factors that involve the production of artisanal Minas cheese in the dairies registered at the Instituto Mineiro de Agropecuária (IMA), such as the quantification of the whey produced in the manufacture of this cheese, the identification of the main destinations of the whey, the factors of non-use and/or commercialization of whey, knowledge and interests of artisanal Minas cheese producers about whey and the potential for use and/or destination of whey in their own producing properties. To achieve the objectives of the work, a descriptive study was carried out, with quantitative and qualitative methods. In the quantitative stage, an online questionnaire was applied to artisanal Minas cheese producers registered at the IMA, while in the qualitative stage, in-depth interviews were conducted with experts in the dairy chain. Thus, it is concluded that the cheese producers of artisanal Minas cheese are made up of family and small-scale labor and most of them have been in the market for less than twenty years. The production of whey per week is between 301 to 1,800 liters and its main destination is animal food. The main difficulties presented for the commercialization of whey were the lack of processing industries in the region and the lack of partners to assist in transport. Producers showed interest in establishing partnerships in order to collect whey and/or build a processing unit in their region.