A protein traditionally derived from milk, casein is responsible for many of the characteristics that consumers love about cheese – from its sharp and tangy flavour to its stretch and melt. Could animal-free variants of this dairy protein help to meet taste and texture standards that many plant-based cheeses have struggled to meet thus far? We explore.

From own-label retailer offerings and giant household brands to premium artisan suppliers, dairy-free cheeses made from the likes of cashew, coconut and almond are now available in their masses to consumers seeking plant-based options. But the category has historically faced challenges when it comes to matching the taste of traditional cheese, facing criticism with regards to grainy or rubbery textures and unpleasant off-notes.

Thankfully, products on the market have upped their game in recent years, with some impressive and unique options now widely available at major and independent retailers, garnering praise from dairy-free cheese lovers. When it comes to the most particular of cheese fans, however, it may be difficult to appeal to their palates without replicating the performance and taste of traditional dairy as closely as possible.

Innovating with precision

Precision fermentation, an advanced biotechnology method in which microbes are

used as hosts to produce target proteins and other ingredients, could offer an exciting solution when it comes to appealing to these consumers – including those who are not necessarily vegan, but would like to enjoy their favourite cheese products while reducing their environmental footprint.

The technology is not new to the cheese world; it has been used for decades to produce rennet, a traditionally animal-derived enzyme ingredient that plays a key role in the curdling process in cheesemaking. However, in the alternative dairy and animal-free cheese world, its use is more novel – and is rapidly unlocking a new realm of opportunity in animal-free, sustainable production of the milk protein casein.

Romain Chayot, co-founder and managing director of French precision fermentation dairy start-up Standing Ovation, told The Plant Base: “Casein is essential for the distinct characteristics of dairy products. It enables mozzarella to stretch, camembert to curdle, yogurt to achieve its creamy texture, barista milk to foam perfectly and ice cream to gain its desirable texture and volume.”

He added: “Moreover, dairy producers are actively seeking alternative casein sources to meet ESG goals, secure food sovereignty and innovate within dairy categories. Casein uniquely offers a broad range of functionalities unmatched by other dairy proteins.”

Companies like Standing Ovation are using precision fermentation technology to produce real casein proteins that are identical to those found in real dairy milk, but with no animal involvement.

“We use microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast or fungi, cultivated in industrial fermenters at scales of several hundred cubic metres,” explained Chayot. “Despite the rapid growth of plant-based dairy alternatives, many products still lack authenticity in taste and texture.”

He explained that Standing Ovation’s casein can resolve these issues, offering numerous application prototypes including soft, hard and spreadable cheeses, and providing potential to match dairy products traditionally made from cow, buffalo, goat or sheep milk proteins.

“Our patented technology could enable a single factory to match the annual casein output of thousands of cows, drastically lowering greenhouse gas emissions, water use, land requirements, and eliminating antibiotics or hormones usage,” Chayot enthused.

The vegan debate

Modern biotech fermentation methods like precision fermentation have continued

to gain traction in the alt-protein space over the past few years. Due to this, V-Label, an international trademark for labelling vegan and vegetarian foods, has introduced a new certification, the F-Label, dedicated to foods made with these technologies.

The organisation introduced the label to provide clarity to consumers, assuring them that the traditionally animal-derived compounds in these products have been made in an

animal-free process.

While some will consider that this animal-free nature deems the ingredients as suitable for vegans, individual beliefs surrounding the term ‘vegan’ and what products it covers can vary in an increasingly complex food landscape with rapidly developing technologies. With this in mind, the F-Label was unveiled as a certification separate from the organisation’s vegan-certified trademark, which covers foods made only with plant-sourced ingredients like pea and soya.

Those Vegan Cowboys, a Belgian start-up founded in 2019, believes that precision fermentation-made cheese products can appeal to the masses – vegans included – thanks to its ability to remove animals from the production process, aligning with the company’s broader mission to take animals out of the food chain. Its focus is solely on casein for cheesemaking.

Hille Van der Kaa, Those Vegan Cowboys’ CEO, said: “Other precision fermentation companies often work on whey. This is relatively easier to produce. But you don’t make gold yellow hard cheese with whey. Since other companies are already pretty good at this, we decided to focus on casein and casein alone. This is the hardest nut to crack and requires all our attention.”

The company has been working with cheese producers to test its casein in different types of

cheese and under different conditions.

“For example, for mozzarella it is [crucial] that the cheese gives a good stretch and for other

cheeses, melting behaviour is again very important,” Van der Kaa noted. “From our partners we learn what works well and what doesn’t, and have learned that in certain applications, the functionality of our casein is better than the animal variant. We develop our casein so that it has the best functionality for the desired application.”

Next-generation dairy

While currently available plant-based cheeses provide an alternative to their dairy counterparts, and are made from nuts, pulses and other plant ingredients, precision fermentation-made cheeses contain dairy proteins – but made without the animal. They are often considered as ‘next-generation’ dairy products, with potential to satisfy both dairy lovers and many vegans, too.

Working collaboratively with the traditional dairy industry has been a crucial part of

progressing toward commercialisation for many of these start-ups.

Standing Ovation has been working with French dairy giant Bel – which also offers a number of plant-based options within its portfolio – since 2022, while Those Vegan Cowboys announced a new partnership with European dairy giant Hochland earlier this year to test its cow-free casein in semi-hard and hard cheeses. Prior to this, it also announced a partnership with fellow precision fermentation start-up Formo, based in Germany, in March 2024.

The partnership announcement was described as a ‘first-of-its-kind’ collaboration, unique in

both size and impact, to enable the large-scale production of animal-free caseins. It demonstrates the power of collaboration between start-ups in the alternative protein industry, working together toward a common goal rather than seeing each other as competitors.

Through this initiative, the two companies have combined efforts across strain engineering and bioprocessing, each aiming to bring to market their own line of vegan cheeses while maintaining their distinct identities.

In a statement, Formo’s CEO, Raffael Wohlgensinger, said: “In order to gain a leading market share together with our partners, production of animal-free casein needs to be able to compete with animals on a cost level”.

“The initiated collaboration allows us to improve the technological efficiency and scale of

production to achieve this very goal.”

For Those Vegan Cowboys, the collaborative aspect is a signal that its casein will be a part of the future for Hochland and other traditional dairy producers. Its partnerships are a key stepping stone on its way to scaling up and launching to market – both its own cheeses, as well as the casein as an ingredient supplier – with the start-up expecting to reach commercialistion within a few years, CEO Van der Kaa confirmed.

“At the stage we are in now, it is incredibly important that traditional parties support the development and indicate their willingness to invest in this,” she enthused. “They are our

customers in the here and now and in the future.”

“Among our partners are several small cheese companies, as well as multinationals and even farmer cooperatives. They are often companies with a long-term vision, daring to look beyond the next two years.”

Future farming

Another company that emphasises the benefits of making farmers part of the transition toward a more sustainable and animal-free future of food production is NewMoo.

While also a start-up producing cow-free casein, NewMoo does not use precision fermentation – instead, it uses plant molecular farming to produce its ingredient. This involves genetically engineering plants to express novel ingredients: in this case, teaching the plants to express bovine casein proteins for the animal-free cheese industry.

Co-founder and CEO, Daphna Miller, explained that the company’s co-founders have extensive experience within the traditional dairy industry, leveraging this understanding of the sector’s advantages, needs and challenges to develop a solution. She pointed out that the company’s molecular farming approach can provide a sustainable solution that is cost-effective, requires less factories and allows farmers to be a part of the process.

“Our product – a liquid casein base – mimics the functionality of milk, and actually seamlessly integrates into current dairy factories,” she said. “We plant the seeds in fields, collect our special casein seeds, and then with special know-how, we produce our liquid caseins base for dairy brands.”

Miller added that the final liquid casein base is clean from DNA residues, meaning no GMO

declaration is required. Furthermore, she noted the benefit of the liquid format in contrast with a powder, avoiding complex and costly processes to separate and purify the caseins.

“Additionally, it helps us minimise time and capital expenditure for dairy producers – by ensuring our product seamlessly integrates into their existing factories and processes,” explained Miller.

“Moving a cheese producer’s machine within their own factory by just 100 metres can

change the taste of their product and can take weeks to get back to their known beloved

taste. This truly is a win-win situation: it benefits the consumers, the dairy producers, farmers, the health- and animal welfare-conscious flexitarians, and the global climate.”

Dairy reimagined

While companies producing these advanced solutions must navigate regulatory approval

processes and often challenging scale-up journeys, their potential impact on the future

of animal-free cheese is huge.

The products will not be suitable for everyone – some consumers with milk allergies, for example, can still experience an allergic response triggered by precision-fermented milk proteins. And some vegan consumers may feel it does not align with their values to consume any food that contains bioidentical animal protein, no matter whether ananimal was used in the production process or not, preferring to stick to cheese alternative products made only with plant ingredients.

With commercialisation in sight across multiple markets for several of these start-ups by 2028, the future looks promising.

Those Vegan Cowboys’ Van der Kaa concluded: “Regardless of what happens politically, you see that the market has already fully embraced the change. And it will probably still [happen in] fits and starts in the coming years, but the positive turnaround seems unstoppable.”

Top image: © Studio Lazareff/Standing Ovation