Cow's milk from the laboratory: This is how Australian companies want to save the climate

Created: 10/31/2022 2:16 p.m

By: Catherine Loesche

Delicious milk: Four out of five people regularly consume dairy products.

© Roland Weihrauch/dpa

With their “exhaust” methane, cattle contribute to the climate crisis.

Artificial milk is said to solve the problem.

The taste is the same - but not everything in butter.

A delicious glass of milk in the morning, plus yoghurt and butter under the jam: More than 80 percent of the world's population regularly consume dairy products.

The problem: The "suppliers", i.e. the cattle, release methane through their flatulence - and thus contribute significantly to the climate crisis.

Artificial milk from the Australian laboratory now promises a more ethical and ecologically sustainable alternative.

What sounds like science fiction could change the dairy industry and the impact of livestock farming on climate change forever.

The cow-free milk is expected to be on Australian supermarket shelves within the next two years.

The local start-up Eden Brew wants to be one of the first companies to attack the milk market in this way.

The lab-made product has the same taste, appearance and properties as cow's milk, says Jim Fader, co-founder of Eden Brew.

"It is indistinguishable from cow's milk." The technology of the "milk brewery", whose name is based on the Garden of Eden, comes from the Australian authority CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), which is responsible for scientific research in Australia .

It is a special fermentation process in which yeast uses synthetic DNA to produce a specific milk protein.

"Synthetic": Many customers think of it as inedible

According to a study by Macquarie University in Sydney, however, many people find the term "synthetic" in connection with fresh cow's milk unpalatable.

On the other hand, many who care about the environment and animal welfare advocate cow-free milk: the non-dairy industry is expanding worldwide.

In the US, cow-free milk proteins, such as those made by Perfect Day, are now used in many products such as ice cream, cream cheese, chocolate and protein powders.

The Australian dairy industry is worth around four billion dollars.

In addition to fresh milk, it produces a variety of different dairy products such as yoghurt, butter and cheese.

Around 50 percent of these products are exported.

In particular, milk powder sales to Asia are booming.

In fact, Australia is the third largest exporter of dairy products in the world.

Around 15 percent of the Australian milk market currently consists of non-dairy products made from soya, almonds and oats, and the trend is rising: plant-based milk alternatives have become increasingly popular in recent years.

Oat milk in particular has seen a huge upswing around the world - one of the biggest players, Swedish company Oatley, was valued at $13 billion in May.

Cows as a climate killer: methane contributes significantly to global warming

The demand for cow's milk alternatives is increasing, according to Eden Brew boss Fader.

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the climate change impact of methane, emitted head and tail by Australia's nearly 1.7 million dairy cows.

Finally, cows are a major contributor to the climate crisis with their bloating and belching, which emits a significant amount of methane.

Some traditional Australian dairies are jumping on the bandwagon.

For example, the Australian dairy cooperative Norco supports the Eden Brew project.

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Milena Bojovic from Macquarie University in Sydney analyzes global trends in dairy farming as part of her research.

She fears that the existence of smaller dairy farmers will be jeopardized by the participation of large dairy groups such as Norco or Fonterra.

"Small farms will have a really hard time as part of the global consolidation of the dairy industry," she told IPPEN.MEDIA.

The pressure on farmers to keep up with the standards of larger companies and meet environmental requirements is increasing.

Pay for cow evictions?

The farmers don't agree

Australia's neighbor New Zealand recently tightened the climate requirements for animal husbandry: From 2025, farmers will have to pay for the emissions from their herds because of the harmful effects on the climate.

Paying for farts and burps from cows?

This annoys the farmers.

Researchers in New Zealand are now trying to reduce the formation of methane during the digestive process from the calf's legs onwards by administering a probiotic drink - also known as "kow-bucha" based on the fermented tea for humans.

Due to the isolated island location and the short shelf life of milk, it is difficult for Australia and New Zealand to export fresh milk.

Although it can be transported by air freight, this is not usually practical for larger quantities.

Around 95 percent of New Zealand milk is therefore exported as powdered milk, while Australia supplies around 43 percent of its production in powdered form, mainly to China.

"If synthetic milk can be produced as a powder on a similar scale, this primarily poses a risk for exporting countries such as New Zealand and Australia," said Milena Bojovic IPPEN.MEDIA.

In particular, dairies that produce exclusively for export could be squeezed out by the laboratory variant.

"Ultimately, the consumer doesn't care

Expert: "Synthetic products are a supplement - nothing more"

But Dairy Australia, the state umbrella organization for the dairy industry in Australia, is relaxed about the development.

"People aren't giving up dairy," says Melissa Cameron, director of health and nutrition policy at Dairy Australia.

“The commercialization of synthetic proteins and products on a scale that makes these products widely available is still a long way off.

As populations increase around the world, synthetic products will provide supplemental proteins and products.

There will be room for everyone.”

The question remains whether synthetic milk can really take the cow off the ice when it comes to climate change.

"If the production of synthetic milk on an industrial scale leads to a significant reduction in cattle herds, then by all means, the best way to reduce methane emissions is to reduce the world's dairy herd - albeit with certain social and economic costs for connected to farmers and rural communities,” says Milena Bojovic.

Traditional milk will certainly not disappear any time soon, even if the synthetic form does not require species-appropriate animal husbandry and problems such as methane emissions.