Got GMO milk?

Bioengineers in the US are developing the world’s first artificial cow’s milk made from genetically engineered yeast in an effort to put a more environmentally sustainable option on the market.

“If we want the world to change its diet from a product that isn’t sustainable to something that is, it has to be identical [to], or better than, the original product,” says Perumal Gandhi, a co-founder of the synthetic dairy start-up Muufri (pronounced Moo-free) in San Francisco, California. “The world will not switch from milk from a cow to the plant-based milks. But if our cow-less milk is identical and priced right, they just might.”

Gandhi and his partner Ryan Pandya are working on perfecting an artificial cow’s milk made from a special variety of yeast that has been genetically engineered to produce milk proteins.

Nicknamed an ‘out-of-body udder’, this system is designed to produce milk that retains the taste and health benefits of real milk, setting it apart from soy, rice, and almond milk varieties, which do not match the taste expectations of regular milk. Muufri milk and ice cream might be able to meet the taste challenge, scientists say.

“If we want the world to change its diet from a product that isn’t sustainable to something that is, it has to be identical [to], or better than, the original product,” Gandhi told Linda Qui at National Geographic. “The world will not switch from milk from a cow to the plant-based milks. But if our cow-less milk is identical and priced right, they just might.”

The milk is made using the same process that pharmaceutical companies use to produce insulin. DNA is extracted from dairy cows and certain sequences are inserted into yeast cells. The yeast culture is then grown in industrial-sized petri dishes at just the right temperature and concentrations, and within a few days, the yeast will have produced enough milk for harvesting.