What Goes Into Animal-Free Mozzarella? US Startup Reveals Ahead of Launch


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San Francisco’s New Culture has submitted the product label for its mozzarella – made from animal-free casein – for review to the state of California.

As it gears up for commercialisation, precision fermentation player New Culture has revealed the ingredient list of its cow-free mozzarella.

The fermentation-derived cheese features the startup’s flagship recombinant casein protein, which is mixed with water, sunflower and coconut oils, salt, sugar, starch, and fortifying minerals. Asked what starch the company uses, co-founder and CSO Inja Radman told Green Queen: “it’s a standard food starch.”

She adds: “New Culture animal-free casein is what’s responsible for the taste, functionality and performance of our cheese. It’s what sets our product apart from every single plant-based cheese in the world.”

The announcement of the ingredients comes after the food tech startup submitted the product label and registration for its mozzarella for review to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CFDA), which it says is the first instance of an animal-free casein submission to the agency.

“Reaching the point of submitting our product label and registration to CDFA represents an important maturation and a readiness as a company to bring our product to market,” explains Radman.

Targeting a broad range of consumers with nutritional parity

new culture mozzarella
Courtesy: New Culture

New Culture is making a cow-free version of the main dairy protein via precision fermentation, which combines the process of traditional fermentation with the latest advances in biotechnology to efficiently produce a compound of interest, such as a protein, flavour molecule, vitamin, pigment, or fat.

Casein – a $2.7B market – is responsible for emulsification, stabilisation and gelation, among other features, helping cheese melt, stretch, bubble and brown. But being a dairy protein, it has a detrimental impact on the environment, while requiring a vast amount of land and water.

This is why New Culture uses precision fermentation, which allows it to make a bioidentical version of casein for use in products like mozzarella.

The ingredient list for the startup’s mozzarella helps match its nutritional profile with conventional cheese and outperforms many vegan options too on nutrients too. While typical plant-based cheese contains no protein and up to 8g of carbohydrates, and cow-derived mozzarella has 6g of protein and less than 1g of carbs, New Culture’s precision-fermented version has 5g of protein and 2g of carbs.

new culture mozzarella
Courtesy: New Culture

It’s also a complete protein source and is free from soy, nuts and gluten. “From a nutritional perspective, New Culture cheese has very broad appeal across a range of consumer segments,” says Radman.

“For some consumers, the high (and complete) protein and low carbohydrate content will stand out. For others, including those with allergies, being free from cholesterol, lactose, soy, nuts and gluten is going to be attractive. For others, it’ll be the lack of trace hormones and antibiotics. Being able to appeal to so many consumer groups is a huge benefit of our product.”

survey by New Culture found that 80% of people are interested in its animal-free cheese eat animal products, and early adopters are happy to pay $4 more per pizza with the company’s cheese. But despite the functional and nutritional promise, products like animal-free mozzarella will only work on a mass scale if their costs come down.

To do so, the startup has partnered with South Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang (an investor in New Culture) on a manufacturing deal aimed at reaching commodity pricing for its casein. Last month, it revealed that its cheese now needs just 28% of casein – less than half as much as conventional mozzarella – allowing it to lower the product’s price.

New Culture in talks with pizza chains and indie shops

new culture cheese
Courtesy: New Culture

Last February, New Culture became the first company to obtain self-affirmed GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status for animal-free casein in the US, enabling it to sell its protein to manufacturers and its mozzarella to restaurants.

One of those restaurants is Nancy Silverton’s Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles, where the firm showcased its mozzarella as part of a pilot in 2023. The eatery will also be host to the product’s full market debut, though the launch timeline has been delayed.

“The entire New Culture team is extremely eager to get our cheese into Nancy Silverton’s Pizzeria Mozza. With the label and registration submission to CDFA, we’re one giant step closer. We’re working with CDFA to secure the necessary approvals and will share more details on [the] launch as soon as we can,” says Radman.

And it’s not just Pizzeria Mozza that New Culture. “If there’s one thing we know, it’s that pizzerias desperately want our cheese. We’re in conversation with pizzerias of all sorts, all across the country, from nationwide chains to family-run independents, from NY-style pizzas to Neapolitan, Detroit, tavern, grandma, and beyond,” she reveals.

new culture pizzeria mozza
Courtesy: New Culture

There are several startups working on precision-fermented casein, including Standing Ovation, Those Vegan Cowboys, Change Foods, Zero Cow Factory, and Fermify. But New Culture – which has raised $28.5M in venture capital and is currently fundraising – has the advantage of being one of only two companies (alongside Fermify) to be cleared to sell the protein in the US.

“Commercialisation is a multifaceted process. It’s much more than just having a great product. It’s an organisational mindset shift,” says Radman. “And from an operational standpoint, [the label submission] means we’ve ironed out some very important production and formulation details.”

She adds: “In terms of timing, we don’t have specifics, but are eager to work with CDFA to wrap up the approvals as quickly as possible.”

Author

  • Anay Mridul

    Anay is Green Queen's resident news reporter. Originally from India, he worked as a vegan food writer and editor in London, and is now travelling and reporting from across Asia. He's passionate about coffee, plant-based milk, cooking, eating, veganism, food tech, writing about all that, profiling people, and the Oxford comma.

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