New Culture’s CEO unveils first animal-free casein protein for pizza mozzarella in US market

16 Feb 2024 --- New Culture’s animal-free casein protein is the world’s first to be determined Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), following an independent review. Casein is the key ingredient in cheese that allows it to stretch, melt and bubble — and now it’s poised to disrupt the US dairy-derived cheese market after New Culture has self-affirmed that it is safe for consumption.

New Culture developed “cow cheese without the cow” through precision fermentation and its first product is mozzarella for pizzerias, which appears and behaves just like conventional cheese. 

The company also stresses the mozzarella for pizza offers an authentic mouthfeel and texture that plant-based options often lack. Replicating the taste and texture of dairy products continues to be a difficult challenge for plant-based innovators.

Ready for US market 
But New Culture claims to have overcome formulation roadblocks and is scaling manufacturing capacity in preparation for the first sale of its cheese, slated for later this year.

“It’s no secret that consumers have higher and higher standards for the foods they eat, whether that’s related to dietary preferences, health reasons, sustainability, ethical concerns or otherwise. Over the last decade, sustainability-marketed products have grown at twice the rate of conventionally marketed products,” Matt Gibson, co-founder and CEO at New Culture, tells Food Ingredients First.

“Animal-free foods have grown six times as rapidly as the overall food industry since 2018. Yet, despite these trends, there’s one food product in particular that simply has no suitable animal-free option, and that’s cheese.”

“Whereas plant-based milk, for instance, has garnered 15% market share, plant-based cheese has plateaued at less than 1% penetration. It’s the multi-billion dollar opportunity presented by these overlapping trends that New Culture is seizing by launching the world’s first animal-free, dairy mozzarella later this year.”

Differs from whey
New Culture has worked hard to tackle the formulation challenges associated with animal-free dairy, highlighting its strategy to help consumers and brands transition to an animal-free dairy future.

Casein is necessary to make cheese but is distinct from the dairy protein category of whey, a primarily unused by-product of the cheesemaking process. Casein’s unique structural properties make it significantly more challenging to produce an animal-free solution for dairy than whey.

“Making an animal-free cheese that has the same texture, mouthfeel, and performance of conventional dairy all comes down to one ingredient: casein protein. Casein is responsible for all that we love about cheese, including the melt, stretch, ooze and crumble. This is why, lacking casein, plant-based cheese falls short of consumer and chef expectations,” Gibson explains. 

“Yet, we’re able to make delicious cheese completely free from animal inputs by creating animal-free casein powder and then mixing it with water, plant-based fats, salt and minerals as part of the cheesemaking process.”

“Casein is a notoriously complex protein, so it has taken dedication from our entire team to produce the world’s first animal-free version to be determined safe for consumption.”

Free from animal inputs
Now that New Culture’s animal-free casein is GRAS, the company is closer to bringing its mozzarella to pizza lovers, initially targeting the US foodservice market.

The GRAS status is the result of New Culture casein matching the identity and macro-nutritional profile of the cow casein it replaces and is made from a manufacturing process that is reproducible, industry-standard, and food safe. 

The company transform small amounts of animal-free casein into similarly small amounts of animal-free mozzarella.This proven manufacturing process, precision fermentation, has been used for decades to make food ingredients and pharmaceuticals cost-effectively, sustainably, and animal-free. New Culture intends to notify the FDA of its self-GRAS determination shortly.

“From our conversations with pizzerias and consumers alike, we know there is overwhelming demand for better animal-free mozzarella. That demand spans consumers of all dietary preferences and backgrounds, especially non-vegans. In fact, consumer research revealed that 80% of individuals who are interested in New Culture cheese eat meat, demonstrating that our mozzarella has significant mainstream appeal,” Gibson tells us.

“Mozzarella is the most popular cheese in America because of pizza, so that’s where we’ll be focused to start to have the biggest impact. The first restaurant where you’ll be able to order a pizza with New Culture cheese is Nancy Silverton’s acclaimed Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles, which will open later this year. From there, we’ll expand to other pizzerias within the US.”

“While we could certainly work on a range of animal-free products made from our casein, it is imperative that we nail mozzarella and build early commercial momentum with pizzerias. Down the line, we’ll develop additional cheeses and venture into other types of dairy, but not until we’ve established our footing with mozzarella,” he concludes. 

New Culture casein is also free from lactose, cholesterol, trace hormones and antibiotics, while its process reduces greenhouse gas emissions as well as land and water use.

By Gaynor Selby