The topic of milk can be controversial nowadays. Several factors like how cows are treated or where the milk is sourced can make consumers go for alternatives. What if you don’t have to worry about all that and enjoy a fresh glass of milk without actually drinking it from a cow? Here’s how Perfect Day, a startup, is revolutionizing the way we will drink milk.
Perfect Day: Their Roots and Process
Perfect Day is a food-tech startup. Founded in 2014, Ryan Pandya and Perumal Gandhi are vegans on the hunt for quality vegan dairy. After a bad experience of eating vegan cream cheese, Pandya sought to solve this problem.
Upon discovering that milk proteins were made from whey and casein, they sought to replicate milk without the cow (mostly). For them to create the milk protein, they take a swab or hair from a cow, then introduce those genes to a non-animal organism. They retrieved the genes from scientific databases.
Fungi (microflora) is the main ingredient of Perfect Day’s milk. Using fermentation tanks, they ensure that optimal temperature, pH, and salinity are also accounted for. This helps them produce safer, purer, and healthier milk. With that said, there are no hormones, antibiotics, cholesterol, and lactose. Unfortunately, those with dairy allergies may not be able to consume their milk. However, Pandya does emphasize that it’s vegan-friendly. Plus, it’s considered as Generally Recognized as Safe, according to the United States Food and Drug Administration.
Healthier and Safer Alternative
The food-tech startup ensures that their products won’t make you question how they create animal-free milk. For one, without any cows, they reduce up to 97% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Those that may want to support Perfect Day and their sustainable and ethical approach to producing animal-free milk can do so by buying their ice cream. They teamed up with The Urgent Company, N!ck’s, and Graeter’s to create Brave Robot. Fortunately, they received regulatory approval in 2019 to launch their products. Their ice cream is available to purchase online and in 5,000 stores in the US.
Their milk proteins are not just in use in the United States. They’ve also reached Hong Kong, which is used in Ice Age ice cream. The taste is similar to regular ice cream, and it doesn’t have the fruitiness found in plant-based ice creams.
Fans of their products and consumers can expect a cream cheese alternative from the food-tech startup in 2021.
The Market for Alternative Milk
Perfect Day is facing stiff competition from other startups looking to produce alternative milk for consumers. New Culture and TurtleTree Labs are also finding solutions for those who want to drink milk guiltlessly. But with a $300 million funding, Perfect Day is geared to innovate and produce animal-free milk.
More customers want to consume plant-based drinks. And many estimate that more will opt for alternative milk drinks, and the market will boom in the coming years. As such, some companies aim to cater to the needs of many consumers, but their innovations may need regulatory approval. Plus, it has higher prices than most dairy products. That’s the case for Perfect Day, considering their ice cream is about the same price as Ben and Jerry’s.
Startups like Perfect Day need government backing and partnerships from the industry.
Pandya even says that they want to “create the kinder and greener way” in producing food that you can find in a dairy aisle. But they can’t do it themselves.
Their investments in research and infrastructure can change the way consumers drink their milk in the future. Currently, Perfect Day has an R&D lab in Singapore, backed by a government agency. Not only do they want support and regulate approval from the city-state, but they also aim to get those from Canada, India, and Europe as well. Plus, they want partners from the dairy industry too.
