The WHEYLAYER Project is a 3 year industry driven research and development project that is being funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme under “Research for SME- Associations”.

The aim of the this cooperative research project is to replace currently used synthetic oxygen-barrier layers with whey protein coatings. Preliminary tests on the oxygen permeation properties of whey-protein-coated plastic films carried out to date have revealed that Whey protein isolate (WPI) or concentrate (WPC) coating solutions displayed excellent oxygen barrier properties at low to intermediate Relative Humidity, comparable to synthetic oxygen barriers and have showed great promise in the potential of whey protein coatings for replacing existing expensive synthetic oxygen barrier polymers.

This present research project will build upon exiting research in order to arrive at a commercially feasible technique for developing whey coated plastic films, without jeopardising the oxygen or moisture barrier performance of conventional plastic films, while increasing the recyclability of these plastics.