Dairy companies seek new 'whey' into Chinese market

The powerful Dutch dairy industry is scrambling to cash in on exploding demand for whey, a cheese byproduct once used mainly in cattle feed that has now turned into a global nutritional hit.

Over the past decade whey powder, produced when milk separates into curd during the cheese-making process, has become a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Analysts say research shows that whey, once the ugly step-sister to its more widely-consumed sibling, cheese, is in fact one of the planet's best sources of natural protein.