Belgian biotech company Those Vegan Cowboys announces it has developed a product using a new type of microbial casein. The startup will reveal the kind of cheese and its market entry at tomorrow’s Future Food-Tech summit in London.
Casein proteins are essential for making great-tasting cheese that stretches and melts well. According to the startup, the new casein, under certain conditions, outperforms cow’s casein, especially in cheese production. It can offer better properties such as improved stretch, for example, in mozzarella, and a lower melting point, allowing cheese producers to use less casein, which reduces costs.
CTO Will van den Tweel says, “Along the way, we realized that, functionally, the existing cow’s casein may not be the best source of casein for cheese. The casein we produce with our stainless steel cow can give, for example, a melted stretch up to five times better if desired by the cheesemaker. Margaret can also deliver casein with a lower melting point. And this is just the beginning.”
Entering the US market by mid-2025
Those Vegan Cowboys was founded in 2019 by Jaap Korteweg and Niko Koffeman to produce dairy-identical proteins using precision fermentation. They use microbes and fermentation tanks, nicknamed Margaret (after Thatcher, the Iron Lady).
“Our product already had significant advantages in terms of sustainability and animal welfare”
The Ghent-based company also announces that it is preparing to file for novel food approval and anticipates entering the US market by mid-2025. After approval, the company will supply microbial casein for dairy producers and launch an animal-free cheese line for consumers. Robert van den Breemer, former Head of Sustainability at Nutreco, will join the company as commercial chief to support the company’s entry into the market.
CEO Hille van der Kaa comments, “Where the dairy cow has been optimized as a machine for thousands of years, our stainless steel model Margaret is already doing better after just two years. Our product already had significant advantages in terms of sustainability and animal welfare. It now also outruns the cow in functionality for specific applications and, with that, in price.”
A collaborative effort
The company collaborates with Wageningen University, Leiden University, and Ghent University to develop better-performing proteins. Additionally, it works with the German startup Formo, the company’s R&D partner, which recently raised $61 million to expand its market presence and continue developing fermented caseins. In the long term, scientists expect to outperform cows in several functionalities, including flavor, explains the startup.
Kasper Hettinga, Professor of Dairy Processing & Functionality at Wageningen University, shares, “Over the past decades, we have learned a lot about natural variation in caseins between cows and their impact on the functionality of dairy products.”
Beyond functionality, fermented caseins are said to require significantly less land and water, produce substantially lower CO2 emissions, and emit no methane. Meanwhile, other advantages of animal-free cheese include making healthier products by replacing milk’s fat with vegetable oils.
“Already years ago we identified microbial casein as a possible game-changer for the dairy industry”
Additionally, the Ghent-based company says that it has been collaborating with traditional players, including a pizza producer, a dairy cooperative, and major cheese brands. These companies are testing the microbial casein in existing cheeses, and, according to the startup, they are highly motivated to work with the product because of its better performance.
Westland Kaas, a producer of Old Amsterdam and Maaslander cheeses, is one of the enthusiastic partners. Frank Fischer, CFO of Westland Kaas and responsible for sustainability, comments, “Already years ago we identified microbial casein as a possible game-changer for the dairy industry. We are very excited about entering the new phase of application studies with this source of casein.”
