Sunday Times 2
Would you drink a pint of man-made cows’ milk?
Imagine a world where milk is not only artificially produced, but also free of lactose and cholesterol.
That’s the dream of three bio-engineers in the US who are preparing to produce a proof-of-concept of their cow-free milk.
The purpose of the company is not just to produce a beverage that can be enjoyed by 75 per cent of the world's population, who are lactose-intolerant. They also want to reduce our dependence on animals (Reuters)
Ryan Pandya, Perumal Gandhi and Isha Datar are the founders of biotech start-up Muufri, and by next year they’re expecting to have made the first batch of their potentially revolutionary beverage.
The team believes producing the key components of milk in yeast culture will make it possible to provide consumers and food manufacturers with the same products they know and love, but through a more sustainable, healthy and humane process.
‘It hasn’t been done yet because no one has made milk from scratch before.
They explain how the idea for the project came about by the huge industrial farming operations in North America.
‘It’s upsetting to us because it results in a reduced quality of milk and causes so many issues in terms of environmental damage, greenhouse gases and water pollution.
‘These are big problems that start to happen when you crowd animals together.
‘We asked ourselves, what is the product? It’s not the cow, it’s the milk the cow produces.’
So the team went away and did some research on the composition of milk, and they were surprised to find that it was remarkably simple.
The main components that give it its flavour and function are six proteins and eight fats.
Lactose is also present but the team say it is superfluous; their cow-free milk will also be lactose-free.
And with 75 per cent of the world’s population lactose intolerant, particularly people in Asia, that will be music to the ears of many.
They predict that in 100 years, artificial milk will be the norm for world’s then-expected population of nine billion people.
The team is hoping to have a proof of concept by July 2015 – after that they will then look into ways to scale up production to bring it to market.
‘Three years from now we expect to be on shelves,’ they say.
And ultimately they’re hoping to jump into production with first a do-it-yourself-kit, which will include the proteins and other ingredients needed to make artificial milk.
‘It’s a win-win situation,’ the team adds, ‘unless you’re a big dairy executive.”
© Daily Mail, London