Unsurprising! So I guess meat and dairy products are going to become astronomically expensive?
The one thing that I can’t find is a palatable alternative to cheese. Are there any yet?
Unsurprising! So I guess meet and dairy products are going to become astronomically expensive?
Alternative milks are currently more expensive than cow milk (by a long way). If that changes, I can see the dairy industry crashing.
The one thing that I can’t find is a palatable alternative to cheese. Are there any yet?
To be honest I haven’t tried any. But I know lab-grown “milk” is becoming a thing, if you’re after the same taste I’d guess that would be your best bet. Not sure if there are any yet.
Lab produced dairy will basically eliminate the dairy farm, once perfected the change will be swift and catastrophic.
2 to 3 years to design and build a plant, one reasonable sized facility will replace 60k cows, that is 20 big farms, 1000 hectares replaced by 4-10 hectares.
I think you need to make it cheaper than cow milk and taste pretty much the same, with a similar nutrient profile. There will still be holdouts but I think the cost thing will be the tipping point. Up until it’s the cheapest option, it’s still a premium product for a niche market. Once that tipping point is reached, I’d hate to be a dairy farmer.
Agreed, but once it is perfected, dairy industry has at most 5 years before basically their entire industry is vapor.
A lot of the tech from wine making will carry over; pumps, filters massive stainless steel vats and a lot of pipe…
If you could buy bio-equivalent milk for 1/4 the cost, would you keep buying the “natural” version?
Is this the production of casein protein as a bulk industrial ingredient or actual drinkable milk for the consumer?
Different labs around the world are trialing different things. Drinkable milk is definitely on the cards, but in NZ it seems the focus is on getting casein protein for making better vegan cheese and ice cream. There’s an article talking with one NZ company here.
The milk, cheese, and ice cream is already being created and taste tested. The problem is the scale, it needs to be scaled up significantly from current quantities and this may be a challenge. But there are many places working on it, so it’s likely just a matter of time.
Alternative milks are currently more expensive than cow milk (by a long way). If that changes, I can see the dairy industry crashing.
Not that much more if you compare 1l of dairy milk to 1l of alternate at the cheap end:
- $2.48 - Countdown Milk Standard
- $4.00 - Almond Milk
- $4.00 - Oat Milk
We buy powdered milk since we live out of town and it’s so much more convenient for us. That works out at about $1.70 a litre - so yeah.
I would be interested in a powdered Oat Milk, for a “reasonable” price.
You don’t seem to be able to buy alternative milks in large volume. I think it’s fair to compare against the $1.87 per litre you pay if you buy a 3L countdown milk.
Oat milk is what I’m most interested in, I generally don’t like the taste of soy, almond, or coconut even when they aren’t milk. I quite enjoy oat milk though (but I also like oats). You just have to go into it knowing it won’t taste like cow milk.
However even at $4 a litre it’s still more than twice as much as the cow milk. You’re right though, not as much as I thought.
The issue with Oat milk currently is that it’s grown here, shipped to Sweden where it’s processed into Oat Milk and then shipped back. Take that shipping out of the equation, and surely it will be a more reasonable price? Let’s hope this Oat Milk factory gets built soon!
I linked this before, but in case you didn’t see it: https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/127521588/the-secret-to-the-perfect-dairy-free-cheese-could-lie-in-lab-grown-milk-protein
"The business is focusing on creating casein, a protein which will allow vegan food products to have the same sensory impact as real dairy products.
“There is a lot of potential for this process. You can ‘veganise’ any product that is traditionally dairy without changing anything for the consumer,” Miller says."
Thanks. Hadn’t seen that one, but have seen similar stories.
I personally don’t have a problem with ‘lab grown’ food, but I suspect some do. ‘Plant based’ is probably more palatable to the public opinion? I’m not sure if I want a lab grown food to necessarily replicate existing food, I’d rather just have good nutritious food that tastes good - plants do that already? Except for BACON, there is simply no substitute for BACON - sorry Miss Piggy@#@! If they make a lab grown BACON I’m all in!!!
