Soon, Israeli startup Remilk and regional dairy producer Tara will work together to market dairy products made without the use of animals. Aviv Wolff, the company’s founder, explains why he decided to work with rather than against the dairy firms.
The Jewish festival of Shavuot, known for its widespread practice of consuming dairy meals, has come to be associated with marketing the country’s dairy sector in Israel. This is evident in the cramming of shop shelves with holiday launches and special deals. Israeli stores will soon carry dairy products made without the usage of animals, which aim to disrupt the sector.
One example of them is the goods produced by the startup Remilk, which was founded in 2019 and last April acquired its initial clearance from the Ministry of Health to market its goods to consumers.
Cow’s milk protein was created in a lab without using any animals according to the originator, Aviv Wolff. In the following years, the protein will be marketed as a raw material to manufacturers in Israel and around the world. The first goods that will be made available to the general public will be a collaboration between Remilk and Tara, the top privately held dairy product maker in Israel.
What does Remilk have to add to the crowded shelves of milk, cheese, and yogurt in the market? Fermentation is the method Remilk employs.
The company makes yeast into a “factory” that generates the same protein found in mammals by copying the DNA segment needed to produce cow’s milk proteins and inserting it into yeast. The protein powder will subsequently be sold by Remilk to various industries.
“The protein in our milk is 100% equal to that of cows. The cow has a “recipe” and preparation guidelines for every ingredient it requires in milk. We duplicate this recipe in the lab and feed it to a yeast, an effective microorganism, which quickly multiplies only the ingredients we require: a useful substance that can serve as a building block for different dairy products, but without lactose, cholesterol, growth hormones, or antibiotics, and without endangering the environment or animals.
The company makes yeast into a “factory” that generates the same protein found in mammals by copying the DNA segment needed to produce cow’s milk proteins and inserting it into yeast. The protein powder will subsequently be sold by Remilk to various industries.
“The protein in our milk is 100% equal to that of cows. The cow has a “recipe” and preparation guidelines for every ingredient it requires in milk. We duplicate this recipe in the lab and feed it to a yeast, an effective microorganism, which quickly multiplies only the ingredients we require: a useful substance that can serve as a building block for different dairy products, but without lactose, cholesterol, growth hormones, or antibiotics, and without endangering the environment or animals.
This is a brand-new food, not a different plant-based alternative with a special processing method. Similar procedures are used in the food sector, but according to the Ministry of Health, this approach needs to be approved as a new food because a high proportion of protein is used in the finished product compared to similar items already on the market. We argued that since it is the same protein—the same protein you get in dairy products—the relative portion is not really a deciding factor. Today, an enzyme created by microbial fermentation during a genetic engineering procedure is present in over 90% of all cheeses. This meal is unquestionably both safe and healthful.
