A food-tech startup in Israel has created a cow-free version of casein, the protein needed to give cheese its ‘real’ dairy texture.

NewMoo (originally Imagene Foods) uses plant molecular farming (PMF) to produce a sustainable, cost-effective and vegan-friendly version of the solid dairy product.

Non-dairy cheese alternatives have been around for a long time — breakfast cereal inventor John Harvey Kellogg developed a soy-based “cheese” product back in 1937 — but even 21st century non-dairy cheeses haven’t achieved the taste, texture, aroma or melting properties of the real thing; largely because they don’t contain casein.

Meanwhile, the global cheese market has been valued at $135 billion annually and is projected to reach $220 billion by 2028; and the demand for non-dairy alternatives is growing, with 42 per cent of consumers identifying as flexitarian (largely vegetarian, with occasional lapses into meat-eating).

Keep reading at israel21c.org.

NewMoo Chief Science Officer Yulia Fridman-Timaner is a Technion alumna.