I personally do not consume any animal products (including whey protein powder), but wanted to share some points from a discussion I recently had.

(I know whey protein is technically not vegan, as it’s an animal product, but there’s an argument that it might be animal-welfare neutral or even environmentally beneficial.)

Here are the key points:

  • Whey is a byproduct of cheesemaking, where only 10-20% of milk is used for cheese, and 80-90% is expelled as whey. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924224421005124)
  • About 50% of all milk production goes to cheesemaking, meaning there’s a lot of whey produced. Farmers often dispose of it by dumping it as fertilizer or feeding it to animals (mainly pigs).
  • Whey disposal is environmentally problematic, to the point where it’s been called “the most important environmental pollutant of the dairy industry,” with 47% of it being dumped directly into drains. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8284110/#sec18)

So, on one hand, buying whey protein creates demand for whey processing, which could be environmentally positive. Without this market, more whey would likely be wasted, causing significant environmental harm.

On the other hand, the money ultimately supports the cheesemaking industry, which profits from animal exploitation. Even if buying whey doesn’t directly increase suffering in the short term, it helps sustain an industry that does.

Is it obvious that whey is a net negative? Could someone who’s vegan for environmental reasons justify consuming whey protein? I haven’t found any solid estimates comparing the environmental damage averted by consuming whey to the social cost of indirectly supporting cheesemaking.

Would love to hear some thoughts on this!

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If what you're saying is true, why is whey protein so expensive?

Isn't it one of the cheapest forms of protein?

If it's literally a waste product, I don't see why that should matter. The costs should just be for processing and transportation, which would also apply to ordinary milk? Yet in my area whey protein powder costs about 30x as much as milk per unit weight.

My quick guess is that turning something from a "waste product" to a "certified-safe supplement for human consumption" is still costly.

What I don’t understand is why the excess whey isn’t already used primarily as animal feed instead of being dumped down the drain. Did you come across any reason for this? My first guess would be that many of the smaller operations don’t have the equipment or capacity to store or process whey. 

If this is the case, it seems likely that increasing human consumption of whey could just raise the price of the product. This could potentially even divert supply from the market for animal feed. My initial thought is that “recycling” the product back into animal ag could be more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Instead of shipping, processing, and packaging it for individual consumption it could be ordered in bulk for animal feed (which also has fewer processing/regulatory requirements). Curious about your thoughts on this as my arguments here are mostly speculative.

You can buy whey made from precision fermentation (PerfectDay). That changes several elements of your post, particularly the claim that whey is necessarily not vegan.

I spent some time looking into this since it was not obvious to me how to buy from Perfect Day. Looks like the only retail partner who sells their whey protein powder is Myprotein, most retailers sell things like ice cream.

I wish it were easier to buy PerfectDay and similar products, but I guess it makes early business sense to target food manufacturers rather than end consumers. It's cool you can get it from Myprotein -- I tried the caramel flavor but found the flavoring overwhelming. Sad that there's no unflavored option. Maybe the animal free version still has some off flavors compared to the animal derived version?

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