Characteristic of Fermented Whey Beverage with Addition of Tomato Juice (Lycopersicum esculentum)

Whey is the liquid resulting from the coagulation of milk from cheese manufacture. The availability of lactose in whey and presence of other essential nutrients for the growth of microorganisms makes it one of the potential substrate for the production of different bio-products through fermentation process. Lactic acid production through fermentation from lactic acid bacteria could be an alternative processing route for whey lactose utilization. However, a problem with such approaches is the low total solids content. Sucrose and tomato juice added to increases the total solids content. The aim of this work was to study the characteristic of fermented whey beverage with different tomato juice concentration (5, 10, 15%) using probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus plantarum. Lactic acid content, pH, antioxidant activity, and sensory properties of fermented whey beverage samples were examined after 18hours fermentation. Fermented whey beverage with 5% tomato juice obtained the highest scores for color, aroma, flavor, texture and overall attributes. The lactic acid content and pH of fermented whey beverage ranged from 0.326 to 0.437% and from 4.13 to 4.64, respectively. The highest antioxidant activity (9.073%) was found in sample with 15% tomato juice concentration. The best formulation is the sample with 5% of tomato juice concentration.