Israeli retailers to sell lab-produced "milk" with recreated identical proteins

Israeli supermarkets and retailers are set to offer lab-produced, non-dairy milk made from dairy proteins starting next year, as the manufacturer aims to reshape the alternative dairy market.

Remilk’s non-animal protein, which is free of lactose, cholesterol, antibiotics and growth hormones, will appear on supermarket shelves under the label “New Milk” beginning in January, The Times of Israel reported.

The launch comes more than two years after Remilk received approval from the Health Ministry to market its milk, which contains animal-free milk proteins produced through a yeast-based fermentation process that makes them “chemically identical” to the proteins found in cow’s milk and dairy products.

According to the company, the result is a product that is nearly 100% identical in taste, texture and nutritional value. The products contain 75% less sugar than conventional cow’s milk and are fortified with calcium and vitamins.

Remilk’s co-founder and CTO Ori Cohavi said that they “believe that we have reached the level that we can claim it to be the new milk, which is something that required five years of developing at our R&D lab in Israel and $150 million in investment.”

He told The Times of Israel: “It foams like regular milk, it tastes like milk, and behaves like milk, whether it is used for cooking or other applications,” noting that this is not possible with other products currently on the alternative dairy market.

The startup says it reproduces milk proteins by engineering a single-cell microorganism to express a genetically identical protein, which is then dried into powder.

Remilk’s protein can be used in a wide range of foods — including milk, ice cream, yogurt and cream cheese — all free of lactose, cholesterol, antibiotics and growth hormones.

“We are not only working on milk, but also yogurt, cream cheese, and have additional products in the pipeline,” Cohavi said.

Because Remilk’s products contain no real dairy, they are kosher-parve and suitable for vegans. This is especially significant in Israel, where 66% of the population keeps meat and dairy separate in accordance with kosher dietary laws.

“Our new milk products are good news for many consumers who keep kosher and can now drink coffee with parve milk after a meat meal that tastes like real milk,” said Remilk co-founder and CEO Aviv Wolff.

Remilk has also received regulatory approval to produce and sell cow-free milk products from authorities in Singapore and the United States.

By Nazrin Sadigova