Whey and buttermilk are the main by-products of the dairy industry, both having excellent nutritional properties. Buttermilk contains a unique component, the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM). MFGM contains bioactive compounds with positive health effects like antitumour or cholesterol-lowering impact. Whey proteins are found in whey and are a source of bioactive peptides acting positively on coronary, gastrointestinal, immune and nervous systems. Yet, buttermilk and whey are insufficiently utilized in functional food production. Various technological solutions have been studied in order to increase the production of foods based on whey and/or buttermilk whereby the production of beverages appear to be most acceptable from the economic and technological point of view. Thus, the aim of this paper is to give an overview of current knowledge about the possibilities of creating whey and/or buttermilk beverages.

The aim of this paper is to determine nutritive, functional, microbiological and sensory properties of probiotic beverages produced from different volume ratios of cow's milk and soy beverage (25:75, 50:50 and 75:25). Pure cow’s milk and soy beverage served as control samples. Fermentation was performed at 43 °C by a combined culture consisting of the probiotic strain Lactobacillus acidophilus La5 and yoghurt culture. Viable counts of La5 strain in the produced beverages ranged from 7.52 to 8.20 log CFU/mL, which is above the probiotic minimum (106 CFU/mL). Lactic acid was the most prevalent organic acid in all samples (660.1 to 1003.0 mg/100 mL). The fatty acid profiles of fermented beverages were as follows: the mass fraction of saturated fatty acids was 22.2–82.7 %, of unsaturated fatty acids 22.3–77.8 % and of polyunsaturated fatty acids 15.5–65.9 %. The main soy sugars were transformed well (80 % stachyose and 50 % raffinose conversion) into lactic acid during fermentation. Functional probiotic beverages were successfully produced from different volume ratios of cow's milk and soy beverage by L. acidophilus La5 and yoghurt culture. Mixing cow's milk with soy beverage significantly improved the sensory properties of the product, especially its smell, taste and colour. The acceptability test showed good acceptance by potential consumers of all fermented beverage samples except for the sample made from 100 % soy beverage. In the end, the obtained results represent a good basis for optimisation of the ideal volume ratios of cow's milk and soy beverage for production of fermented beverages characterised by good viability of probiotic bacteria as well as by good functional, nutritive and sensory characteristics.

The main objective of this study was to compare chemical, rheological and sensory characteristics of kefir produced by using kefir grains and kefir starter. The intent was also to investigate whether it is plausible to use a combined...

Packaging of dairy products develops continuously along with advances in material technologies, which are in turn a response to demands of consumers. This article aimed to give an overview of currently available dairy packaging systems. Novel dairy packaging systems include new packaging technologies such as the modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) that is widely used nowadays, especially for dairy product like cheese. Application of edible packaging could significantly reduce the costs of cheese packaging by reducing the amount of usually required packaging material. Nanomaterials and active packaging might be useful for extending the shelf life of dairy products by reducing material permeability or negative sensory characteristics of batch processing. Forms of active packaging relevant to dairy foods include oxygen scavenging, carbon dioxide absorbers, moisture and/or flavour/odour taints absorbers; releasing compounds (carbon dioxide, ethanol, antioxidants and/or other preservatives); maintaining temperature control and/or compensating temperature changes and antimicrobial packaging. Antimicrobial packaging is gaining interest from packaging scientists and industry due to its potential for providing quality and their safety benefits. The greatest challenge from the ecological point of view is biodegradable packaging. The main challenges for low waste materials are the durability of the packaging correlated with product shelf life as well as the ecological perspective.