Would you eat cow-free lab-grown cheese?

Record ID: 1953869

  • Title: Would you eat cow-free lab-grown cheese?
  • Date: 29th January 2025
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (JANUARY 15, 2025) (Reuters) TOASTED CHEESE SANDWICH BEING STRETCHED APART (SOUNDBITE) (English) JEVAN NAGARAJAH, CEO AND FOUNDER OF BETTER DAIRY, SAYING: "We're In one of our labs. This is the lab that looks at making cheese melt, stretch and ooze like traditional dairy." VARIOUS OF NAGARAJAH AND STRATEGY DIRECTOR TRISHALA BOPANNA EATING CHEESE TOASTIE
  • Embargoed: 12th February 2025 07:37
  • Keywords: Better Dairy Jevan Nagarajah animal free dairy products casein precision fermentation
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK / REGGIO EMILIA, ITALY / NAXOS, GREECE
  • City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK / REGGIO EMILIA, ITALY / NAXOS, GREECE
  • Country: UK
  • Topics: Europe,Life Sciences,Science
  • Reuters ID: LVA001662227012025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A UK start up is hoping its cheese and yoghurts can move away from reliance on cows, while being healthier for consumers and better for the planet than their age-old dairy equivalents.
    Better Dairy, based in east London, says its animal-free alternative to cheese tastes just as good, but has a lower environmental impact, needing no methane-belching cattle or lush green pastures.
    The trick is using a technology called precision fermentation to produce animal-free casein, a key milk protein that contributes to cheese's characteristic taste, texture and melt.
    "We use precision engineering, precision fermentation to produce microbes that can produce the proteins and all the additional constituents that go to make up high quality dairy products without the cow," Better Dairy's Chief Scientific Officer, David Nunn, told Reuters.
    By programming microorganisms to generate the milk protein, casein, they can make cheddar, parmesan, stilton or any other dairy product.
    "If you look at a blue cheese versus a Parmesan versus a Cheddar, all of them have curd formation. They then differ in the later steps of the cheese making process," said founder and CEO, Jevan Nagarajah.
    "We follow exactly that same principle, and that's why we're super excited to work with existing cheese makers, because each of them have their own journeys that they take with their cheeses," he said.
    The company hopes to cater for a rising demand for plant-based dairy and reduced environmental impact by selling its proteins to existing manufacturers, enabling them to produce an animal-free cheese that is otherwise identical to traditional dairy cheese, rather than merely a plant-based alternative.
    "Our benchmark of success is not plant- based cheese," Nagarajah said.
    "Our benchmark of success is traditional cheese. We want products that taste, melt, stretch, like the original that comes from a cow. The only difference in our case is that there's no cow involved and it's sustainable."
    Estimates vary, but as much as 40 percent of global methane emissions may come from agriculture and nearly three quarters of that number from livestock and dairy - with enteric methane from cow burps and their manure the biggest source, according to the IEA and FAO.
    Methane is a potent greenhouse gas about 25 times more effective than CO2 at trapping radiation, the cause of climate change. Dairy production also consumes a vast amount of resources like land and water.
    Currently, Better Dairy is producing casein and osteopontin at a lab scale. The company plans to increase production capacity and is in the process of navigating the regulatory landscape in target markets, including the U.S. They anticipate receiving approval for casein by 2028 and for osteopontin as an adult supplement by 2027.
    (Production: Stuart McDill)
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