The dairy industry, already beset by plant-based milks, may soon have another competitor to worry about: milk produced in a lab.
Want to learn more about plant-based proteins? See our coverage in our March issue where we compare plant-based proteins.
Perfect Day Foods, a startup based in Silicon Valley, is marketing what it calls “animal-free dairy protein” with proprietary microflora that ferment sugar to produce casein and whey. According to its website, Perfect Day, founded in 2014 as Muufri, has “been fielding a ton of interest from some of the most well-known food and dairy companies in the world” and consumers should “expect to see products on the market within the next couple of years.” The supposed advantages include lower lactose and cholesterol, and a more benign environmental impact.
This has some dairy farmers and processors concerned. “No one would know the difference [between Perfect Day and conventional milk] and they would actually claim there is no scientific difference,” the chairman of the National Dairy Producers Organization told CNBC.
Perfect Day Foods has raised $60 million so far, according to CNBC.
