Lab grown cheese: Yay or nay?

London based “Better Dairy”, a local start-up, is doing its very best to deliver lab grown cheese to consumers in a few years. Their claim is that it already tastes as good as regular cheese, and just needs to be adjusted price wise. Their biggest work at the moment is all about cheddar cheese, since they believe that’s where vegan cheese needs improvement.

How is cheese lab grown?

The journey for lab grown cheese begins with genetically modified yeast. The properties of this yeast have been modified to produce the key protein in milk, casein, and not alcohol. While bacteria or fungi is also common to use for this purpose, Better Dairy is sticking with their modified yeast. They continue with the casein produced plant based fat and various other milk components come into the formula: All to continue a traditional cheese-making pattern, step by step.

Jevan Nagarajah, the chief executive of Better Dairy, hopes to improve their formula as time goes, but one of the main goals remains to introduce their non-dairy milk to artisanal cheesemakers to make it even better. Although lab grown cheese is still considered ultra processed by many consumers, the lack of lactose, no cholesterol, and less saturated fats are still argued to be some of the selling points for vegan cheese. This list is open for improvements within the processes of lab growing cheese.

Photo by Caroline Roose via Unsplash