The dairy impact

The world loves dairy. With India the undisputed leader in milk production and consumption, the European Union and U.S. remain huge producers, consumers and exporters.^{[1, 2]} China is the world’s largest dairy importer and per capita dairy consumption there continues to rise.^[3] According to a June 2023 study, the value of the global dairy market is projected to grow by nearly 40 percent (to USD 1,243 billion) between 2022 and 2028.^[4] The secret is in the milk itself – a nutrient-rich source of complete protein with taste and physical properties that lend itself to a wide variety of cherished foods and beverages. Dairy is also tradition-rich, nourishing us from our earliest days both physically and emotionally. In many ways, and in many parts of the world, it’s the ultimate comfort food. 

But while impressive advances in dairy farming have dramatically increased milk production per cow, we can’t expect these loyal animals to meet the ever-growing global demand for dairy. And the planet is telling us we shouldn’t try. The good news: A growing number of experts, food companies and investors believe that precision fermentation offers a way to combine the ethics and sustainability of plant-based milk with the unrivalled taste, texture and nutritional benefits of the ‘real thing’. 

Some key challenges to large-scale precision fermentation:

• Conditions in the fermenter, such as temperature, pH, food and oxygen, must be continuously monitored and maintained – and each microorganism has its own special requirements. 
• As cells metabolize, they release heat. If too much heat builds up in the fermenter, the cells or end products can be damaged.
• Mixing the contents in a fermenter ensures a uniform distribution of conditions throughout the reactor, but this fluid flow can also damage the cells.
• Maintaining sterile (aseptic) conditions is crucial. If there is contamination of any kind, an entire batch may need to be discarded, which is costly. 

At the ATC, GEA engineers use digital twins to simulate the mixing behavior of different solutions virtually. “Most importantly, the ATC allows companies to test directly in 50- and 500-liter bioreactors,” says Begerad. “So, in the end, they know whether their cells are happy in the system or not.”

For creating an end product like whey protein, fermentation is just one part of the process. There is also media preparation, sterilization, separation, homogenization, filtration and spray drying. “These are all areas where most companies do not have much experience,” says Begerad. “Following fermentation, each protein produced by the given organism needs to be treated a little differently as it makes its way through this process.” At the ATC, GEA can work with customers to figure out the right parameters for each system and optimize these settings to optimally suit their microorganism and end product. 

For producers across the alternative protein spectrum – from cultured meat to precision fermentation dairy proteins – scaling up production is indeed a core challenge. But Zidon-Eyal is careful to point out that working with GEA is not just about scale-up. “The beauty of the ATC is that we get such a close look into the production process itself – from start to finish,” she says. “We can experiment freely with various sizes of machinery and a range of variables. We can create different setups of industrial lines and experience first-hand how this impacts the end result. So, this isn’t just about scale-up, it’s about smart scale-up. We know that ultimately our success – and perhaps even the success of the industry – will depend on designing extremely efficient production processes for each specific end product.”