Vegans everywhere may soon be able to enjoy the taste of cow’s milk, guilt-free. Via The Frisky, synthetic dairy start-up Muufri in San Francisco is working on developing synthetic cow’s milk that tastes just like the real thing, but harms no bovines in the process — and potentially, is healthier.
The cow-less milk is made by a process that inserts cattle DNA sequences into yeast cells to grow milk proteins. To this, co-founders Ryan Pandya and Rerumal Gandhi plan to add calcium, potassium, sugar and fat. Natural milk is basically water, casein protein, whey protein, fat, lactose, glucose (sugar) and trace elements. The faux milk will have healthier fats extracted from vegetables, and sugar that’s more tolerable for those who are lactose intolerant (lactose is the natural sugar found in cow’s milk).
As you can imagine, some people are psyched about the smartmilk. Others, not so much. Modified food of any kind is generally frowned upon these days. But if Pandya and Gandhi are true to their plans, this lab-grown alternative could be better for everyone involved — and contain no scary, harmful ingredients like your average GMO-packed food.
On their website, Muufri mention all of the benefits synthetic milk could have for people, cows and the planet, like no more pesiticides, heavy metals, hormones, or foodborne pathogens in your glass. There would also be no more over-loaded dairy farm herds that live in crowded conditions, artificially inseminated, and torn away from their calves very early on. And potentially, synethetic milk could mean a big cut back on greenhouse gas emissions, which the millions of dairy cows on Earth contribute to.
Both this milk and the test-tube burger come as a response to the unsustainable food industry, where manufacturers continue to look for faster, cheaper ways to produce more food at the cost of animal wellness, the envionment, and human health. Of course, many of us wonder if these lab-grown alternatives are really be the answer?
A taste test is definitely in order before the American people will really be able to commit — but if we can all get down with other dairy alternatives out there, like almond milk, I don’t see why not.Would you try synthetic milk? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
