ISRAEL – Wilk, an Israeli food technology company, has launched a project aimed at developing what it claims to be the “world’s first” yogurt made using cell-cultured milk fat.
In the first stage of the project, the food-tech plans to produce the concept for use of cultured milk ingredients in food products that will help in reducing global reliance on animal-based milk production.
The company said its concept product will prove the viability of its cell-based technology, minimizing the need to use animals in future dairy production.
Accordingly, it will be used to develop the touted world’s first cell-cultured milk-fat yogurts.
The project is expected to last approximately six months, culminating in the incorporation of cell-cultured animal milk fat into the product.
The front runner in the cultured milk fat yogurt detailed that the product will contain the core component of fat cultured from cells.
The components will ensure that the products retain the inherent nutritional benefits only found in real milk fats, including the full complement of essential macro and micronutrients.
Tomer Aizen, CEO of Wilk, commented: “It has long been established that milk fat is integral to supporting human health and nutrition.”
It will Aid the absorption of key nutrients, such as vitamins D and E and calcium, into the blood while providing a rich source of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-carcinogenic properties”.
He added that these core properties cannot be replicated through alternative technologies, making Wilk the first company in the world to develop a dairy product containing genuine, cell-cultured milk fat.
Wilk, founded in 2020, makes cell-cultured milk from both humans and animals by collecting mammary gland tissue, isolating the milk-producing cells, and then cultivating them in a bioreactor before producing specific milk ingredients.
The startup holds patents on the laboratory production processes that replicate the milk-producing cells of humans and other mammals to create 100 percent real milk and milk components in laboratory settings.
It also holds the US patent approval to distribute its products nationwide in the country.
Aizen highlighted that Wilk will continue investing in its efforts and resources to develop cell-cultured milk and breast milk components that will help its partners produce healthier products in a more sustainable manner.
Concurrently, Wilk noted that it is working to increase the production capacity of cell-cultured fat in its facilities and establish optimal fat separation methods for use in foods.
Furthermore, the Israeli company plans to accelerate the production of cultured human milk components that will be integrated into infant formula to develop products that are optimized for infants’ growth and development.
The scaling up of its productions follows a US$2 million investment from Coca-Cola’s Central Bottling Company arm (Coca-Cola Israel) last year, to help expedite the arrival of products based on Wilk’s cultured milk to market.
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