AGROINDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING for rural entrepreneurship

THEME: RICOTA CHEESE, an alternative to the whey from the cheese process, technical and economic feasibility study.The whey in the cheese agroindustry is a liquid industrial waste that generates a great environmental impact and serious management problems.This study analyzed the technical and economic feasibility of making ricotta cheese from the whey obtained from the process of making "Chanco Mantecoso" cheese in a small agroindustry in southern Chile.The physicochemical, nutritional, microbiological, sensory evaluation and shelf life analyses corresponding to Chilean health regulations were obtained for this product.The technical evaluation indicates that it would be of low complexity for a small agro-industrial company to produce ricotta. In turn, the economic feasibility indicates a positive NPV and an internal rate of return much higher than the discount rate used, so that making ricotta from the whey obtained from the cheese production process, is a very attractive project and a marketing alternative with added value.