Animal-free dairy proteins appear to provide comparable functional advantages to cell-cultured “meat” products, which have garnered significant attention and investment from major food manufacturers. One such company, Memphis Meats, a cultured “meat” startup based in San Francisco, has attracted funding from both Tyson Ventures and Cargill. On the economic front, Memphis Meats is working to lower the current high cost of its cell-cultured “meat,” which it estimates could drop from approximately $2,400 per pound last year to around $3 or $4 per pound by 2021. In a similar vein, Perfect Day will need to compete against existing dairy proteins if it aims for success. Dairy industry analyst Matt Gould advised the co-founders in 2016 that achieving a competitive edge would require reducing prices to about $2.50 per pound.
In addition to pricing, product labeling presents another challenge. Perfect Day’s co-founders have engaged in discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on how to clarify that their ingredients are technically dairy yet devoid of animal products. Perfect Day’s patented method utilizes food-grade yeast to which DNA sequences from dairy cows are added—now capable of being 3D printed—to generate proteins typically found in dairy milk. These proteins are cultivated in large fermentation tanks with corn sugar and other nutrients to facilitate growth. Following this, the proteins are mechanically harvested and can be incorporated into various foods or beverages that currently use dairy proteins, as explained by co-founder Ryan Pandya to Food Navigator.
Additionally, Gelton, a company producing gelatin without animal products, is emerging in this sector. Their innovative process results in a vegan alternative to traditional gelatin, which they estimate to be part of a $3 billion industry. However, Gelton mentioned to Food Navigator that it will take time and scaling to compete with the existing bulk gelatin market price of about $8 per kilogram, or around $3.63 per pound.
Unless Perfect Day and other alternative animal-free products gain substantial market presence, predicting U.S. consumers’ reactions to genetically engineered milk proteins and gelatin remains uncertain. Consumers might appreciate having gluten-free options with benefits like calcium citrate, being reassured that no animals were harmed during production. Conversely, they might experience an “ick” factor when faced with foods or beverages that push them beyond their comfort zones.