A version of this article was originally published in Protein Production Technology International
In the previous edition we explored some of the new technologies in the dairy industry being used to make cheese components. But they aren’t the only ones being used.
Other cheese ingredient technologies
Another technology is plant molecular farming. This is where the gene for a compound is inserted into a plant, which makes the compound you want. The compound is then extracted and used as an ingredient. Some notable companies in this space are:
- US company Nobell Foods, a unit of Alpine Bio, produces casein from soybeans and plans to release trial cheese products made from this ingredient in 2025.
- New Zealand based Miruku is growing dairy fats and casein in safflower. Earlier this year they raised raised $USD5 million in a pre-series A round and are conducting trials later this year with farmers in conjunction with Australian government research organization CSIRO.
More alternative cheese technologies
- Pureture in the USA has developed a plantbased casein alternative and plans to manufacture 2,400 tons per year of their product 30-40 % cheaper than casein. They recently signed an agreement with Namyang Dairy products, one of the largest Dairy companies in South Korea, to develop a new plantbased dairy range.
- Last edition I mentioned Formo in the precision fermentation space, but since then it raised USD61 million Series B in September, taking total funding to USD115.3 million. It’s now launched cheeses “Frischhain” and “Camembritz” using proteins from koji, made using the microorganism Aspergillus oryzae, as an ingredient.
Infant formulas
Another key part of the dairy value chain is the USD70 billion infant formula market. Currently dairy based formulas are the gold standard for the segment. However, we need to keep in mind that cow’s milk is optimised for calves, not humans. That’s why it’s often fortified with precision fermentation produced human milk components as well as using vegetable fats to mimic human milk components.
An emerging technology is mammary cell agriculture, where cells from an animal are used to make milk components. This can be from any mammal, including humans. A couple of companies in the human milk space are:
- BIOMILQ, based in the US, cultures human breast cells to make human milk components. Currently it can manufacture milk components including proteins, lipids and complex carbohydrates
- Israel based Wilk this year received a USD2 million investment from dairy giant Danone, through the latter’s investment arm. On the human side they’re concentrating on fat components as well as lactoferrin, often referred to as “pink gold” (due to its USD1,100/kg price). But they’ve also produced a food standard compliant yoghurt made from their cow’s milk fat.
Plant molecular farming is another contender for infant formula ingredients. Using a close relative of tobacco, UC Berkely researchers have produced a human milk oligosaccharide called LNFP1.
And of course, precision fermentation gets a look in for human milk components. A small sample of the companies involved are:
- TurtleTree Labs is producing lactoferrin and plans to release its LF+ product by the end of 2024.
- Portugal based startup PFX Biotech is developing a range of human milk proteins including lactoferrin, osteopontin and α-Lactalbumin from its proprietary microbial strains.
- US based Yali Bio is making human milk fat components using genetically modified yeast. It recently hired the former head of Cargill R&D and a former Impossible Foods executive to scale and commercialise its product.
- US Company Checkerspot is using genetically modified microalgae to produce a key human milk fat, OPO.
Will there come a point where cow’s milk ceases to be a good foundation on which to base infant formulas?
The future?
The bottleneck for many of these new technologies is infrastructure. Enormous amounts of stainless steel fermenters and factories will be required to provide meaningful volumes of many of these products. And that requires correspondingly enormous amounts of capital investment.
Then, once you have the money – which is not easy to find – designing and constructing a factory can take up to two years. With the number of factories required globally meaningful scaleup of many of these technologies will take years, if not a decade or more.
But all of this means that within the next 10 – 20 years there’s a plausible future for the dairy industry where dairy ingredients grown in animals are the alternative, rather than those that aren’t!