Food-tech start-up NewMoo has devised a new method of producing casein proteins, using plant molecular farming (PMF) to grow them from plant seeds.
Caseins comprise around 80 per cent of the proteins in dairy milk, and are essential for traditional cheesemaking. Until now, cheese alternatives have struggled replicate the traditional cheese taste, texture, nutrition, and price.
Although the global cheese market has been valued at over $200 billion, and is projected to reach $330 billion by 2028, the alternative dairy movement is still lagging, largely due to sensory and nutritional setbacks.
However, NewMoo’s product opens up a new pathway, where cheesemakers can sustainably deliver the same experience as a dairy cheese through a cost-effective, animal-free method.
NewMoo was founded in 2021, raising over $10 million in seed funding led by Lool and Zora ventures to develop a casein growing method that built on research from the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Rehovot, Israel.
Two or more caseins are embedded into a single plant using PMF, which are then grown in outdoor fields through traditional field agriculture. After harvesting the plants, the development process yields a hormone-free liquid casein, which is naturally free of lactose and cholesterol, and can be used to make almost any animal-free dairy product.
NewMoo co-founder and CEO, Daphna Miller, said that the company’s animal-free liquid casein mimics all the functional traits of real milk protein for crafting cheese the traditional way.
“This means it can seamlessly replace dairy milk in any dairy cheese manufacturing facility without the need for any special equipment or reconfiguration of existing equipment.
“NewMoo’s caseins can form the basis for a cheese that has the exact melting and stretching behaviour as animal dairy cheese, and delivers the typical aroma, flavour, and texture that cheese eaters crave. Our animal-free proteins are literally identical to animal-derived caseins.”
The process not only removes the necessity dairy cows from the industry, but is highly efficient and cost-effective, making for a more sustainable source of milk proteins. It is also easily scalable for implementation.
“As opposed to current precision fermentation practices, our approach doesn’t require expensive bioreactor machinery to grow our proteins. The plant seeds themselves act as bioreactors. This gives us the flexibility to produce these complex proteins in abundance and at exceptional cost parity,” said Miller.
