Wheyless cheese: An alternative method to reduce the environmental hazards of Lighvan cheese production

Cheese is one of the dairy products that have an important role in a family‟s food basket. Different types of cheese are produced in the world. In Iran, Lighvan cheese is very popular among people due to its special flavor, but the produced whey from this type of cheese is discarded. Due to its high biological oxygen demand (BOD), whey has a detrimental effect on the environment, and providing solutions to reduce these effects can pave the way for the cheese industry, especially Lighvan cheese. One of the proposed solutions is to produce wheyless cheese. Some studies have been done in this field, if the method of producing cheese without whey does not reduce the unique features of Lighvan cheese it could be a very suitable option for producing this type of popular cheese. So, in this study, we attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of various aspects of Lighvan cheese, environmental disadvantages of whey, and methods of reduction of its destructive effects including the production of wheyless cheese.