Propionate and acetate salts are effective as environmentally friendly road deicer substitutes for sodium chloride that is widely used at present. A low-cost medium using raw cheese whey and hydrolyzed whey permeate/whey permeate powder as substrates, and corn steep liquor as nutrient supplement, was studied for lactic acid production, replacing synthetic lactose and other high-cost nutrients. A two-stage fermentation process developed at 20 L fermenter level to convert cheese whey lactose to propionate and acetate salt will be discussed in this presentation. A non-sterile stage-I fermentation process for improved lactate productivity using an inexpensive commercial medium was performed at a 20-L fermenter level. In Stage I, lactate was produced from lactose present in the cheese whey and a lactate yield of 0.98 g/g lactose utilized and a productivity of 1.1 g L-1 h-1 was obtained with complete lactose utilization. In Stage II, the lactate from Stage I was converted to propionate and acetate salts. Fed-batch and continuous fermentation processes were performed to increase the final propionate concentration and productivity. The fed-batch performance resulted in a total acid yield of 0.58 g/g, and productivity of 0.145 g L-1 h-1. By continuous operation, the product yield increased to 0.88 g/g lactate consumed and productivity increased to 0.34 g L-1 h-1 over that of the fed-batch operation.