Panorama atual do mercado de consumo e caracterização de diferentes marcas de concentrado proteico de soro (WPC)

Abstract

The milk market in Brazil grows year after year. About 40% of all production is destined for the manufacture of cheese, obtaining whey as a co-product. This cannot be dumped into river beds without treatment, as it is highly polluting when improperly disposed of, and with that, industries are increasingly looking for ways to take advantage of this product that has a high biological value, with good functional properties. Wpc is a powdered supplement obtained from the concentration and drying of whey, resulting in a product with low lactose and fat content and high protein content. The present work evaluated the consumer's perception of the consumption of wpc, through the application of a questionnaire and aimed to evaluate eight brands of the supplement, national and imported. The physicochemical differences were characterized and the cost per gram of proteins was evaluated. The nutritional information data from the supplement packaging labels were correlated with the results of laboratory analyzes to see if it meets the standards defined by ANVISA. With the results obtained in the questionnaire, we can say that this supplement is consumed mainly by young people, that the weekly amount of consumption is quite varied and the objective is to increase daily protein consumption and hypertrophy, most of them practice physical exercises. The indication of the supplement is mostly by nutritionists, two thirds are aware of the amount of protein ingested throughout the day and know that excess protein is harmful. The amount of protein is a determining factor for purchase and consumers look at the relationship between the amount of protein and grams per serving, in addition to the amount of carbohydrates. Regarding the physicochemical analyses, there were differences between all variables (p<0.05) with the exception of hygroscopicity, showing a non-standardization in the production of these supplements. The comparison of the results found in the physical-chemical analyzes with the label showed that only one of the eight brands met the requirements of Brazilian legislation containing a maximum difference of 20% between the real value and the value declared on the label.