Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Dairy is New Zealand's most profitable export industry, but also one of our biggest carbon emitters - so what if the cow, and methane, could be taken out of the production process altogether?
That's what one Auckland food-tech startup has been working on, making dairy-identical proteins using a process called precision fermentation.
DaisyLab has attracted interest from the traditional dairy industry, and hopes to take their production to the next step, by scaling up to a 1,000 litre pilot production plant this year.
Emily McIssac, one of the founders of DaisyLab explained their process in a nutshell.
"We produce dairy proteins without the cow. So we genetically modify a strain of yeast to produce proteins that are typically found in cows milk."
The end product is whey protein, which can be used to make products like yoghurt, ice cream and cheeses.
Precision fermentation is already used to produce some everyday food ingredients like rennet, used in traditional cheesemaking.
Right now DaisyLab has a 10 litre production facility, and it aims to scale up to a 1,000 litre pilot plant by the end of the year.
It's a big jump, but McIsaac is confident they can do it.
"Our strain is really scaleable. We've got amazing fermentation expertise on the team. So should be easy, hopefully."
Waikato dairy cooperative Tatua is already onboard as an investor, which McIsaac said enabled them to work with traditional processing methods.
"We've designed everything so that basically the upstream, which is the fermenter and strain, is the only change that needs to be made to the factory."
"Everything downstream from that - so all the processing, spray drying and reformulation is identical to what the dairy industry are currently using."
A Life Cycle Assessment of the tech commissioned by French Precision Fermentation company Bon Vivant, found a 96 percent reduction in carbon emissions and 92 percent reduction in land use compared to traditional dairy.
AgResearch Principal Scientist Richard McDowell said as long as DaisyLab weren't producing whole milk powder, they likely wouldn't be a big part of New Zealand's dairy exports.
But the technology could help with some of the environmental effects of dairying, he said.
"Where it would be useful is allowing the sector to downscale or remove from areas that are excessively leaky. Thereby disproportionately improving either greenhouse gas emissions or water quality outcomes."
Food science and nutrition expert Li Day said precision fermentation had the potential to add value the dairy industry - but would not be replacing traditional farming any time soon.
"Yes there will be segments of population of human being who may be quite open to having the ingredients in their foods from different sources. But there will be another segment of human beings who just want to have food from natural sources."
In the precision fermentation process, the organism which makes the protein needs something to feed on.
Byproducts from traditional cheesemaking could be used for this, Day said.
"It is helping you reduce the waste, and improve the processing efficiency, utilising your capital assets much more efficiently."
Precision fermentation could help make better use of processing facilities, she said, during times when they weren't used as much, like in winter.
DaisyLab is hoping after the new production plant is up and running, it will prove to the dairy industry that the technology can work at scale.
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