Startups are producing real dairy without a cow in sight

IT LOOKS like cheese. It smells like cheese. It tastes like cheese (specifically mature cheddar). And it is cheese – at least under the microscope.

Synthetic dairy is made with the same ingredients as the conventional sort. But instead of getting the main ingredient from a live ruminant, Better Dairy, a three-year-old British cheesemaker, derives some of it from yeast. These microbes are fed sugar, which they then convert into milk proteins in a process which is similar to brewing.

Plenty of milk alternatives have hit cafe counters and supermarket shelves in recent years. Plant-based beverages made from things like soya beans, almonds and oats make up 15 per cent of all milk sales by value in America and 11 per cent in western Europe, said the Good Food Institute (GFI), a think tank.