Milk from Israeli lab has no need for cows

It tastes like cow’s milk, looks like cow’s milk … but is made in a lab without any animals involved.

Imagindairy, an Israeli tech company, has developed a process for producing milk proteins, whey and casein, from fungi or other plant micro-organisms.

The start-up said its “cow’s milk without cows” will be in shops by 2023 after it raised $13 million in seed funding and set up a partnership of one of Israel’s largest dairy manufacturers.

Dr Eyal Afergan, the co-founder and chief executive, has likened the process to fermenting beer from yeast, only in this case, Imagindairy uses artificial intelligence to program the DNA inserted into the fungi used for growing the protein.

Unlike dairy-free substitutes such as oat milk and almond milk, the proteins produced by the Imagindairy process are identical in their taste and texture to that produced by cows. But by removing cows from the production cycle, the milk has the potential to drastically reduce global methane emissions and reduce the impact dairy farming has on climate change and deforestation.

Growing artificial milk proteins is not a new process, it’s been around for about 40 years, but it is expensive. Imagindairy’s technology, the company claims, offers a more cost-effective way.

Thanks to the DNA programming, the product can be made without less desirable components of milk. Essentially, this is milk that has all the nutritional values of cow’s milk but without lactose, that two thirds of the world’s population is sensitive to, and without sugar and fats.

Imagindairy plans to work with existing dairy companies, supplying them with milk protein powder that can be used to make a range of products including regular milk, cheeses and yoghurts.