Proteini sirutke čine 18 - 20 % ukupnih proteina mlijeka. Njihova nutritivna vrijednost, uz raznolika fizikalno-kemijska i funkcionalna svojstva, čine proteine sirutke široko primjenjivim u prehrambenim proizvodima. Proteini sirutke najčešće se koriste zbog poželjnih funkcionalnih svojstava. Mogu se koristiti kao sredstva za želiranje, za vezivanje vode, emulgiranje te stvaranje pjene. Zahvaljujući primjeni novih procesnih tehnika (membranskih tehnika frakcioniranja), danas je moguće proizvesti različite dodatke hrani na bazi proteina sirutke. Najvažniji proizvodi na bazi sirutkinih proteina su koncentrati i izolati proteina sirutke. Svrha ovog rada je dati sveobuhvatan pregled hranjivih i funkcionalnih svojstava najčešće upotrebljavanih oblika proteina sirutke (koncentrata proteina sirutke - KPS i izolata proteina sirutke - IPS) u prehrambenoj industriji.Whey protein fractions represent 18 - 20 % of total milk nitrogen content. Nutritional value in addition to diverse physico - chemical and functional properties make whey proteins highly suitable for application in foodstuffs. In the most cases, whey proteins are used because of their functional properties. Whey proteins possess favourable functional characteristics such as gelling, water binding, emulsification and foaming ability. Due to application of new process techniques (membrane fractionation techniques), it is possible to produce various whey - protein based products. The most important products based on the whey proteins are whey protein concentrates (WPC) and whey protein isolates (WPI). The aim of this paper was to give comprehensive review of nutritional and functional properties of the most common used whey proteins (whey protein concentrate - WPC and whey protein isolate - WPI) in the food industry
