New technology and innovations in novel foods have led to cell-cultured hamburgers, steaks, and even chicken. However, animal-free dairy has not seen as much exposure and investors are wondering if consumers have an appetite for this type of novel product.
Highlights:
• Alternative dairy product sales have been rapidly rising in recent years.
• A new study finds that consumers are largely open to animal-free dairy as long as the health benefits and safety of the production process are transparent and open.
• It remains unclear if animal-free dairy will be considered vegan or not by consumers.
The state of alternative dairy products
Alternatives to dairy products, such as oat, almond, and soy milk, rice-based yogurt, and ice creams have now become common in supermarkets. Almond and oat milk can even now be requested at most cafes instead of traditional dairy products. Dairy alternatives are particularly important for those individuals who have lactose intolerance or who are choosing a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.
According to Markets and Markets, the global dairy alternatives market is estimated to be valued at USD 27.3 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 44.8 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 10.4%. Growth in this market has largely been attributed to health concerns over traditional dairy products and an increase in lactose intolerance in the general population.
What is animal-free dairy?
A new type of alternative dairy, animal-free dairy is beginning to gain increased investor attention as another alternative to traditional dairy as consumers look for more sustainable and environmentally friendly choices.
Animal-free dairy protein-based products usually use cellular agriculture and synthetic biology and tissue to engineer products that on a molecular level are identical to those produced by animals. Precision fermentation is another form of producing animal-free dairy by using microorganisms, such as yeast, which are genetically altered to express complex proteins. Without using any animals, businesses are now able to make dairy proteins like whey or casein that are bioidentical. They achieve this by imprinting the DNA sequence of a dairy protein on yeast or fungi, for example, and then putting them in fermentation tanks similar to those used to make beer, where the yeast/fungi feed on basic plant-based nutrients and sugars to grow.
Animal-free dairy proteins are being used to make animal-free milk, cheeses, and ice cream, as well as other products.
From a regulatory perspective, many countries have yet to make decisions and guidelines on animal-free dairy as is the case in Germany and the United Kingdom. In other parts of the world, however, countries like Singapore and the United States have already approved this new type of product for retail sale and in some cases, you can already find animal-free dairy products on the shelves in some select locations.
With that said, very few of these products have hit the shelves of supermarkets, so consumer perception of these products is largely unknown.
Will consumers buy these products? Do they trust animal-free dairy proteins and precision fermentation techniques? These are questions largely unanswered.
Trying to understand consumer’s perceptions of animal-free dairy
In order to answer this question and try and gain deeper insights into consumers’ perceptions of this novel food category, researchers from Rowan University (United States), The University of Sheffield (United Kingdom), an NGO, and an animal-free dairy producer have conducted a study.
This new study, first published in Frontiers in Nutrition, talked to 42 participants from the United States, Singapore, Germany, and the United Kingdom who were placed in 10 focus groups. Focus group participants came from an international sample of potential “early adopters.” To stimulate conversation, participants were presented with a series of visual “moodboards” that framed key arguments both in favor of and in opposition to animal-free dairy.
Researchers found that many participants questioned how animal-free dairy would be produced and the technical aspects of its production. Many participants also questioned the safety of animal-free dairy.
According to the researchers, “The general consensus among participants was a cautious openness to the idea of AFD. Outright opposition to the concept was rare, but so too was unabashed enthusiasm. Instead, respondents had a number of questions about the nature of the technological process, its overall safety and regulatory standards, its potential contributions to individual health and climate change mitigation, as well as its organoleptic qualities and price to consumers.”
Participants found claims about animal welfare to be the most convincing. However, they were most concerned about tampering with nature and creating potential health risks to society.
Is animal-free dairy vegan?
A major question for the future of animal-free dairy will be if it is considered to be vegan. Many believe that people will have to fundamentally change their perspective about what is vegan. In the past, “plant-based” was largely synonymous with “vegan,” however, this may change.
In the case of precision fermentation, even though the resulting products are animal-free and do not contain lactose, they do contain dairy protein. Since no animals are used or harmed in the production of animal-free dairy, the answer is yes if we consider the vegan lifestyle to be an ethical attitude against wishing to use or consume any animal products. Nevertheless, there are now a variety of consumer motives for choosing vegan products in addition to ethical ones, such as those related to health, allergies, and the environment.
On the other hand, would animal-free dairy meet the standards to be able to obtain formal Vegan Certification? Most experts suggest that at this time probably not as they still contain “animal-derived genes.” However, this may change because as opposed to cell-cultured meats which start with a small biopsy of a live animal, precision fermentation relies only on digitalized databases of milk proteins implemented as lines of code for amino-acid sequencing without any animal involvement, not even for a swab or biopsy.
The future of animal-free dairy
Participants of this study did suggest that overall, they would be open to animal-free dairy and saw numerous advantages including it not having lactose, being more sustainable, and the potential that it will be considered vegan.
Overall, the researchers found that according to this study if animal-free dairy is to have a future and become a viable alternative to dairy or other dairy alternatives it needs to demonstrate clearly its advantages in terms of taste, health, nutrition, safety, environmental effects, and animal well-being.
As the researchers go on to state, “companies would be wise to proactively engage with consumers to explain the nature of precision fermentation and the principles of synthetic biology underlying it, as well as advocate for robust and trustworthy official regulatory processes.”
From this perspective, the research can be considered positive for investors and the industry looking to capitalize on this new technology as long as they remain transparent and educate consumers along the way.