Unilever enters the “animal-free dairy” space via the Breyers brand

CPG giant Unilever has teamed up with Perfect Day to launch a lactose-free chocolate frozen dairy dessert under the Breyers brand, using whey protein made in fermentation tanks by microbes rather than cows.

The “animal-free frozen dairy dessert”, which will be available nationwide starting this month, follows the launch of a limited edition by Nestlé (“Better Whey”) under the Orgain brand containing whey protein (beta-lactoglobulin) from fermentation.

“(This is a) landmark example of how our second decade is focused on growth through collaboration with leading companies who share our mission of a kinder, greener future,” he said. said TM Narayan, CEO of Perfect Day, who took over as CEO in January following the departure of founders Ryan Pandya and Perumal Gandhi.

A spokeswoman said AgFunderNews: “This launch is important because it is the first multinational ice cream and frozen dessert brand to offer indulgence with our fermented whey protein. It is available at retailers nationwide, with a MSRP for a 48 ounce tub ranges from $4 to $8.

Why is this important

Their performance will be closely watched by large FMCG companies, which have tested the waters with niche/custom “animal-free dairy” brands such as CO2COA (Mars), Cowabunga (Nestlé) and Bold Cultr ( General Mills), with mixed results. — explore how consumers respond to the concept on larger, more familiar brands.

Perfect Day, which has raised nearly $900 million from backers including Temasek and Horizons Ventures since its founding in 2014, is also under intense pressure to deliver on its promises.

It recently sold its consumer brands (Brave Robot, Coolhaus, Modern Kitchen, California Performance Co) for an undisclosed amount and laid off 15% of its workforce in an effort to focus on its B2B businesses and partner with large consumer goods companies. It is currently finalizing a pre-Series E funding round of up to $90 million.

While the Nestlé/Orgain product has the term “fermented whey isolate” on the front of the package and “whey protein isolate from fermentation” on the back, the Unilever/Breyers product uses the term “free dairy animals” on the front of the package. -pack, a phrase Perfect Day moved away from after research suggested some consumers thought it meant plant-based or allergen-free.

What are “animal-free” dairy products?

There is no formal definition of “animal-free” dairy products. But it generally refers to products made with “real” dairy ingredients such as whey and casein proteins, produced without cows, either via genetically modified microbes or genetically modified crops such as soy, corn or peas.

Using synthetic biology, companies in this field use DNA sequences as pieces of computer code to program or instruct plants or organisms such as fungi and yeast to express animal proteins.

Making dairy products without cows, animal-free dairy advocates say, offers the best of both worlds: more sustainable and ethical products that don’t involve industrialized animal agriculture, but still offer the nutrition and functionality of “real” dairy products such as fondant, stretchy cheese, difficult to make with vegetable proteins.

Major players in the precision fermentation dairy sector include US-based Perfect Day, New Culture and Change Foods; Imagindairy and Remilk, based in Israel; Formo, based in Germany; These Vegan Cowboys, based in Belgium; Bon Vivant and Standing Ovation, based in France; Vivici, based in the Netherlands; Eden Brew, based in Australia; Zero Cow Factory, based in India; Real Deal Milk, based in Spain; Better Dairy, based in the United Kingdom, and De Novo Foodlabs, based in South Africa.

Developing animal-free dairy products through fermentation​

The challenge for many of these startups has increased at a time when venture funds are reluctant to finance investment projects and banks are unwilling to back projects without greater market validation.

Perfect Day works with co-manufacturers but says it is working to build internal capacity. Remilk has paused plans to build a large-scale precision fermentation facility in Denmark and has instead ramped up its beta-lactoglobulin production with a contract manufacturer in Western Europe.

Imagindairy recently acquired industrial-scale precision fermentation production lines in an undisclosed location “in close proximity to Israel” and says it expects products containing its animal-free whey protein to be launched. in the United States this year. Vivici, for its part, claims to already be able to supply commercial quantities of beta-lactoglobulin just one year after its creation by Fonterra and DSM-Firmenich.

Talk to AgFunderNews Earlier this month, Stéphane Mac Millan, co-founder of Bon Vivant, said major FMCG companies were looking to reduce their carbon footprint, but argued basic economics would ultimately drive demand of milk proteins resulting from fermentation.

“The demand for dairy products is increasing and milk production is decreasing, so I am confident there will be a market for this product. »

To those wondering about the economics of precision fermentation to make dairy proteins, Ryan Pandya, co-founder of Perfect Day, said: AgFunderNews last year: “We are able to produce whey at a cost that was thought impossible 10 years ago, and we are still only scratching the surface of what biology is capable of.

“For precision fermentation more generally, the grams per liter produced by these organisms continue to be far from the biological maximum, and things like continuous processes will potentially help improve the economic situation even further.”