Developing animal free milk fat from yeast: Interview with Tomas Turner, CEO of Cultivated Biosciences

Over consumption of animal-based food products has been linked to heart diseases, stroke and other illnesses. Animal agriculture has also received increasingly bad press in the last few years, due to a growing understanding of the suffering inflicted on animals and its impact on the environment. Nowadays, you see a lot of companies jumping on the plant-based bandwagon due to increasing demand from consumers. However a lot of plant-based food items, including dairy alternatives do not make it to the consumer’s kitchen shelves. Why? It seems illogical, right? People nowadays, due to easy access to the internet and information, are more informed about risks associated with animal-based diets yet they seem reluctant to move towards a plant-based diet. 

One of the key factors is flavour, or the lack of it. There’s no accounting for taste. But when it comes to plant-based dairy alternative products, a lot of consumers agree that most of the products available in the market are missing the right flavour and texture. The mouthfeel is not right. It is missing a key ingredient- fat. Plant based dairy products like plant based cheese, icecream, etc are being made with the plant-based fats and oils to deliver the rich mouthfeel. But the problem is most of these fats/oils are not structurally the same as milk fat. Hence, plant based fats do not impart flavour the way milk fat does. 

Flavour is the main key to consumer acceptance. It drives and accelerates the growth of a food product. But if not plant-based fats, then what can dairy alternative companies use to deliver the right flavour? One of the ways to do it would be using animal free milk fat or in other words - oil mimicking milk fat, manufactured using the technique of precision fermentation. It would be a sustainable, animal free alternative that could be used in vegan products. 

Few companies have already identified this gap in the dairy alternative market and are already working on developing milk fat from microbes. One such company is Cultivated Biosciences.

Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with Tomas Turner, CEO and Co-Founder of Cultivated Biosciences, and discuss how ingredients made using precision fermentation can be used to drive consumer acceptance of dairy alternative products. Here’s what we spoke about: 

What led to the conception of Cultivated Biosciences?

“Few things actually. First, my parents didn’t like the flavour and texture of dairy alternative products. The existing alternative non-dairy fats are either too watery and don’t give the right mouthfeel to the product or they are not white in colour. Second, interacting with Good Food Institute made me aware that the plant-based industry is struggling to get the right mouthfeel and flavour, that they are struggling to replace milk fat in plant-based milk products. I realised how lack of mouthfeel is creating a hurdle in the acceptance of the plant based dairy alternatives. It encouraged me to study how to use yeast fermentation to develop microbial oil that would mimic milk fat for my master’s thesis. When I pitched this idea at 2021 Rethink Protein Challenge hosted by Wageningen University and Research (WUR) and won the competition, investors and VCs started writing to me, asking how much money I would need to build and scale this company. But I didn’t have the company at that point. I was just a student and all I had was this idea. However, after seeing the attention and validation our work received, I started interacting with investors and  learning about fundraising, building and scaling a company. And that’s how I started Cultivated BioSciences.”

What products are you working on launching?

“Currently, using yeast fermentation, we are developing powder and liquid based fat solutions that would work with the existing infrastructure in the manufacturing companies. We are starting with products like sour cream, cream cheese and then we plan to expand and move to other alternative dairy products like yogurt, dairy desserts.”

Who are your target consumers and where are you planning to launch initially?

“As of now, our target consumer would be ingredient suppliers, companies that sell food ingredients to food manufacturing companies. I am also open to talking to restaurants and chefs to understand the challenges they face in developing plant based options for their menu and how we can help them out. We are planning to launch in the USA and we are also looking for opportunities to launch in Singapore.”

Why are you planning to start with the USA and Singapore and not Europe?

“USA has better regulatory support. The process of getting a novel ingredient approved is faster in comparison to the EU. To get an approval for a novel ingredient in the EU, it can take from 1.5 to 2.5 years. Without approval you can’t sell your product in the market. This long waiting period creates a lot of financial hurdles for a startup. A startup not only needs money to pay for all the food safety tests but the company also needs enough money to sustain during this long waiting period. This is one of the reasons that not a lot of startups don’t grow and foster in Europe. I believe in Europe we need a regulatory framework that ensures food safety but also does not create hurdles for innovators and entrepreneurs.”

Also, I just saw the announcement that Cultivated BioSciences is a part of Big Idea Ventures’ latest accelerator cohort. Why did you choose to go with them?

“Working with Big Idea Ventures has opened a door for more collaboration opportunities and has given access to a strong network of experts. They have a presence in the international market and hence, can guide us. “

With upcoming innovations in this space, perhaps we will see more consumers choosing the dairy free alternatives in the short term future. It is an exciting time for consumers to experiment with meat free/dairy free alternatives and once people have found the right flavour, and understand the health as well as planetary benefits we can expect to see dairy free alternatives in the mass consumption arena.