From Whey to a Greener Future: Azorean Research Seeks Sustainable Packaging for Cheese

A €476,862 research project is exploring how a byproduct of the Azores’ dairy industry could help preserve cheese while reducing dependence on conventional plastic packaging

In a region where milk and cheese have shaped the economy, landscape and identity for generations, even what remains after production may contain possibilities for the future. An Azorean research project is exploring whether whey—a byproduct of cheesemaking—can become part of a new generation of biodegradable, active food packaging, transforming something left behind by one stage of production into a resource for another. The SolFoodPack — Sustainable Packaging: Nature-Based Solutions for Food Preservation project has a total published budget of €476,862 and runs from December 2025 through November 2028. Its goal is both practical and ambitious: to develop safe, sustainable packaging capable not merely of containing cheese, but of actively helping protect it against microorganisms while reducing the use of synthetic plastics.

Led by the Gaspar Frutuoso Foundation, the project is headed scientifically by Célia Costa Gomes da Silva, of the University of the Azores’ Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Institute for Research in Agricultural and Environmental Technologies (IITAA). The consortium also includes PCTTER/TERINOV and the regional company DOM Azores, creating a bridge between university research, technological innovation and potential commercial application. The scientific work is being conducted at the University of the Azores campus in Angra do Heroísmo.

Turning a Dairy Byproduct into Protection

At the center of SolFoodPack are bacteriocins, peptides produced by certain bacteria that can inhibit other microorganisms. Researchers are investigating how whey can be fermented and used to cultivate bacteria capable of producing these antimicrobial substances, which can then potentially be incorporated into biodegradable films or coatings. The concept creates an elegant circularity: the whey generated while producing cheese could ultimately contribute to packaging designed to preserve cheese.

The project builds upon earlier research at the University of the Azores. Doctoral work completed by Sofia Patrícia Meneses da Silva in 2024 demonstrated promising laboratory results using fermented cheese whey in antimicrobial edible films and coatings. In one line of research, films containing fermented whey retained activity against Listeria monocytogenes for 90 days and, when tested on a model cheddar-type cheese, reduced contamination below detectable levels after 20 or 30 days, depending on the formulation. Other experiments using the bacterium Levilactobacillus brevis SJC120 showed significant activity against fungi associated with cheese and cheesemaking environments.

These earlier findings should not be confused with results from SolFoodPack itself, which only began in December 2025. They do, however, provide part of the scientific foundation upon which the new project is advancing.

Promising Science, but Not Yet a Commercial Product

Research directly associated with SolFoodPack is also beginning to produce results. A study published in Fermentation in June 2026 examined six lactic-acid bacteria isolated from São Jorge PDO Cheese, evaluating their technological, antimicrobial, safety and potential probiotic characteristics. Researchers found activity against several microorganisms associated with food spoilage or food safety, including Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Bacillus species and fungi belonging to the Penicillium and Aspergillus genera. Two strains—Lacticaseibacillus paracasei SJC117 and Levilactobacillus brevis SJC120—were of particular interest, with SJC117 identified as a promising candidate for possible food-biopreservation applications.

The researchers remain appropriately cautious. There is not yet an Azorean sustainable cheese package ready for industrial use. Further validation and genomic safety assessment are required, including investigation of antibiotic-resistance patterns before any potential commercial application. With the project continuing until November 2028, considerable research and development remain ahead.

Where Tradition Meets the Circular Economy

That is precisely what makes SolFoodPack particularly relevant to the Azores. It connects three challenges within a single research chain: finding greater value for whey produced by the dairy industry, using microorganisms associated with Azorean dairy products to improve food preservation, and reducing dependence on plastic packaging. Its timing is also significant as European packaging regulations move toward stricter requirements for packaging and packaging waste.

The ultimate test will come beyond the laboratory. The science must become safe, scalable and economically viable for the cheesemaking industry. But if that transition succeeds, an apparently modest byproduct of one of the islands’ oldest industries could become part of a distinctly modern solution.

For generations, Azorean cheesemaking has transformed grass into milk and milk into cheese. SolFoodPack is asking whether the transformation might continue one step further—whether what cheese leaves behind can help protect the cheese itself. In the circular economy, waste is sometimes simply a resource whose next purpose has not yet been discovered.

Based on a story in Diário dos Açores-Paulo Viveiros, director. Phots from DA and São Jorge Cheese.