Location: Dairy and Functional Foods Research
Project Number: 8072-30600-004-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Jun 24, 2025
End Date: Jun 23, 2030
Objective:
Objective 1: Develop processes capable of transforming waste ice cream into a food-grade, allergen-free fat product and an allergen-free aqueous intermediate product.
Sub-objective 1.A: Develop processes capable of transforming waste ice cream into a food-grade, allergen-free fat product.
Sub-objective 1.B: Develop processes to degrade, inactivate, or remove allergens from the aqueous phase byproduct produced from fat separation of waste ice cream.
Objective 2: Develop methods for utilizing dairy by- and co-products in aqueous formulations for the production of films, coatings, fibers, or 3D-printed structures.
Sub-objective 2.A: Develop formulations of films made from dairy by- and co-products with improved properties for food packaging applications.
Sub-objective 2.B: Develop dairy protein-based edible bioinks for use in 3D printing applications.
Objective 3: Utilize aqueous dairy by-products as fermentation feedstocks for producing antimicrobial peptides, immunoregulatory compounds, and food-grade ethanol.
Sub-objective 3.A: Utilize lactic acid bacteria to produce novel fermentates as bioactive ingredients for food or therapeutic applications.
Sub-objective 3.B: Optimize a process for producing beverage-grade ethanol from waste ice cream by-products.
Approach:
Dairy processing generates by-products and wasted products in considerable amounts. These unwanted products represent food loss, a substantial disposal cost, and an environmental burden. Waste streams including Greek acid whey and waste ice cream currently have no market value despite being comprised of high-quality, valuable components, while other by-products and secondary products, such as whey permeate and caseinates, may be used in biotechnology and packaging applications. In the proposed project, food processing, application development, and fermentation will be used to improve the utility of dairy by-products, wasted products, and secondary products, to unlock their value. Food processing will be used to separate the fat, sugar, and protein components in waste ice cream. Once separated, additional treatments will be used to reduce allergens and their potential risk to consumers. Application development will advance the performance of dairy proteins and low-cost streams in solid material applications including films and 3D printed materials. Fermentation will be used to transform waste streams and dairy by-products into an antimicrobial livestock feed additive, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory therapeutics, and an alcoholic beverage. Successful completion of the project will address a top priority of dairy food manufacturers, allowing them to increase profits while improving the sustainability of their operations.