The Ghent-based biotech startup Those Vegan Cowboys is the first in Belgium to succeed in developing 3 different non-animal cheeses in its laboratory. The cheese is real cheese, not a vegetable substitute, but contains no animal dairy. The three varieties are a mozzarella, a feta and a camembert. However, it could still be some time before the cheese is available on the market and can be tasted by the general public.
Those Vegan Cowboys operates a lab on the technology park in Zwijnaarde (Ghent - East Flanders). Here camembert is ripening but cannot yet be tasted as autorisation from the Euroepan Food Safety Authority is still needed and that procedure could take several years.
The non-animal cheese became possible after the company succeeded in making synthetic casein. This protein, which mammals produce naturally, is a crucial building block for cheese. Artificial cow DNA is inserted into a so-called microbial host. This may be a fungus, bacteria or yeast. Casein is then grown in tanks thanks to precision fermentation.
Those Vegan Cowboys is the first company in Belgium to succeed in this tour de force. Worldwide, there are about 15 or so businesses making or working on producing animal-free cheese. Several are based in Paris, London and the US. New Culture, based in the US, is one of the companies that has made most progress and is already selling small quantities to one pizza restaurant in Los Angeles.
Unlike other vegan cheeses, for example cashew nut-based cheeses, this cheese is fundamentally no different from traditional, animal-based cheese. It is not a cheese substitute, but a real cheese. Only no cow is involved.
Those Vegan Cowboys hope to make the cheese sector more sustainable. Today, on average, one kilogram of cheese causes about 21 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly due to the methane gas that cows produce. This makes cheese 3 times more harmful to the climate than pork or chicken. Moreover, livestock farming takes up 22 per cent of the global land area. In Belgium and the Netherlands there is the problem of excessive nitrogen production.
Those Vegan Cowboys is aiming for a cheese whose environmental impact is five times less than that of traditional cheese. But for now, that is still some way off. As the cheese is still in the development phase, it still requires a lot of energy and raw materials. To reduce the environmental impact, the challenge will be to scale up production.
Those Vegan Cowboys are already working with several major industry players. These include a producer of frozen pizzas and a manufacturer of cheese slices for fast-food chains. There is also an ongoing partnership with Westland Kaas that makes the famous Old Amsterdam brand. That is the only partner that can be named for now.