Bioutilization of paneer whey waste for production of paneer making powder containing pediocin PA-1 as a biopreservative to enhance shelf life of paneer

The aim of this study was to develop a process for utilization of paneer whey, a dairy industry waste, for fermentation and production of food grade paneer making powder with biopreservative potential. For achieving this, supplemented Paneer whey medium was fermented with Pediococcus pentosaceus NCDC273 and centrifuged to obtain fermented Paneer whey supernatant containing pediocin PA-1 (FPWSCP). FPWSCP was concentrated, dried in hot air oven to prepare paneer making powder containing pediocin (PMPCP). Adequacy of PMPCP was checked by preparing paneer from buffalo milk and in results, significant enhanced shelf-life of paneer was achieved. In the microbial quality check, there was significant (P < 0.001) reduction in Total plate count (1.994 ± 0.27), Staphylococcus count (2.032 ± 0.32), Lactic acid bacteria count (1.535 ± 0.33) and coliforms count (1.296 ± 0.31) log cfu ml−1 in experimental paneer was found. Along with this, eight distinct genera of bacteria including Brevibacillus, Macrococcus, Vagococcus, Enterococcus, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Pantoea and Enterobacter were identified using 16S rDNA sequencing and two genera of fungi Candida and Aspergillus on their morphological characters. The microbiological, sensory and chemical quality of paneer prepared with PMPCP was found better in comparison to control. The shelf-life of experimental paneer was achieved to 75% increase in comparison to control.