RESUMEN
Whey is a by-product derived from cheese making. Despite being rich in nutrients, it is little used, it even represents a problem form the environment in Mexico. In this sense, it is important to know the meanings that are associated with this term, especially when it is intended to develop new products from this by-product. The objective of this work was to analyze the representation of the term whey in rural and urban populations through the Central core Theory. Additionally, the relationship between gender-place of residence with the evoked word is explored. Therefore, three hundred and sixty people (from rural and urban areas) were interviewed face to face in two areas in the western region of Mexico. Word association test was carried out, using "whey" as stimulus; the associated words were ordered according to their importance; the polarity index of each associated word was evaluated. The most frequently mentioned words were analyzed based on their frequency of mention and average importance to identify the conceptual structure of the concept representation. The results show and influence of the place of residence on the conceptual structure. Rural participants tend to generate more words with negative connotations, while the central elements of urban consumers are mainly related to dairy products. When comparing consumers by gender, rural and urban women associate "whey" with aspects of both the production process and dairy products. In the case of men, those from the urban zone, relate to aspects related to nutrition, dairy products and nutrients. In contrast, men from the rural area relate whey mainly to negative aspects such as pollution. The study confirms that there is a link between the place of residence and the conformation of the conceptual structure, where the gender-region relationship influences the definition of the term "whey".