Start-Ups to Develop Lab-Grown Dairy Products

Bloomberg has published an article on companies looking to create dairy products from laboratory-grown whey that could compete with the livestock-derived whey that sold an estimated $10 billion in 2018. One featured start-up, Perfect Day, reportedly asserted that “its proteins require 98% less water and 65% less energy than that required to produce whey from cows” but the company must overcome “consumer squeamishness and regulatory reviews that may end up focusing more on the genetically modified organisms [GMO] used to make lab-grown whey.” Perfect Day “wants to rebrand microbes used in food—yeast, fungi, bacteria—as flora, a more consumer-friendly term,” Bloomberg reports, to attract vegans who may avoid something labeled “milk protein” and other consumers who may skip products described as “lab-grown” on the label. “We are trying to explore how we can get a term for this industry that’s outside of plant-based,” one of the founders reportedly told Bloomberg. “Something someone with a plant-based diet can eat, but it’s not from plants. It’s an animal protein, but not from animals.”