Using Dairy DNA, Startup Is Making Milk from Mushrooms
Published by nocamels.com on September 4, 2023.
An Israeli startup has bioengineered milk protein to create a wide range of dairy products – using mushrooms and no cows. And, the company says, their products are healthier, greener and cheaper to create.
Haifa-based ImaginDairy uses freely available DNA codes for milk proteins to recreate their DNA, the company’s CEO and co-founder Eyal Afergan tells NoCamels. The data is even available on the website of the US government’s National Center for Biotechnology Information.
There are two major proteins in milk – whey and casein, Afergan explains. These proteins are present in every single milk-based food. Casein makes up about 80 percent of the protein in bovine milk, and whey about 20 percent.
Using a process called precision fermentation, ImaginDairy has recreated these proteins in the lab in order to generate every kind of dairy product. And according to the company, the taste is identical to the original.
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ImaginDairy creates a dairy alternative using modified milk protein DNA and mushrooms. ImaginDairy Co-founder and CEO Eyal Afergan and Senior Scientist Ariella Lavy-Alperovitch are both Technion alumni.