Perfect Day (company)

Last updated
Perfect Day
Industry Biotechnology
PredecessorMuufri
FoundedApril 28, 2014;9 years ago (2014-04-28)
Founders Isha Datar, Ryan Pandya, & Perumal Gandhi [1]
Headquarters
ProductsBiosynthetic dairy proteins
Strawberry-flavored cream cheese made with Perfect Day animal-free dairy Modern Kitchen strawberry cream cheese 2.jpg
Strawberry-flavored cream cheese made with Perfect Day animal-free dairy

Perfect Day, Inc. is a food technology startup company based in Berkeley, California, that has developed processes of creating dairy proteins, including casein and whey, by fermentation in microbiota, specifically from fungi in bioreactors, instead of extraction from bovine milk. [1]

Contents

The name Perfect Day is a reference to the Lou Reed song of the same name. [2] [3]

History

The founders, Isha Datar, Ryan Pandya, and Perumal Gandhi applied for the Synbiota biotechnology accelerator. [4] Winners would have access to laboratory space, mentorship, and $30,000 in initial funding. Since Isha Datar was the Director of New Harvest, they decided to apply as the "New Harvest Dairy Project", [5] hoping that New Harvest’s established network would help with the application. On April 22, 2014, their application was accepted. [5]

Perfect Day was incorporated on April 28, 2014, [6] [7] [8] [9] under the name "Muufri", [1] and was re-named "Perfect Day" in 2016. [2] The Bay Area company was originally focused on the production of dairy goods (such as cheese or yogurt) for direct retail sale to consumers.

Bob Iger, former chairman of The Walt Disney Company, joined the management board in October 2020. The board consists of cofounders Ryan Pandya, Perumal Gandhi, as well as Iger, Aftab Mathur of Temasek Holdings and Patrick Zhang of Horizons Ventures. [10]

U.S. dairy farmers have asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enforce the definition of milk in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations to prevent competition from Perfect Day products as well as plant milk, which can be labeled milk in the U.S. because FDA does not enforce the definition. [11] [12]

Perfect Day announced in late 2017 that it had been negotiating with possible food industry partners to incorporate its manufactured protein into existing food production lines, becoming a business-to-business ingredient company and marking a change in its business strategy of targeting the end-user (consumer). [13] In November 2018, the company announced a joint development agreement with Archer Daniels Midland to provide commercial-scale volumes of non-animal whey protein. [14] [15] [16] [17]

Consumer products

Brave Robot ice cream Brave Robot ice cream 4.jpg
Brave Robot ice cream

On July 11, 2019, Perfect Day released its first product, an ice cream made from non-animal whey protein. [18] The launch was limited to 1,000 3-pint bundles available for $60 and sold exclusively through the company's website. The production run sold out within hours. [12]

As of 2020, Perfect Day is commercializing its products through the Urgent Company, which sells the Brave Robot brand of vegan dairy ice cream. [19] In November 2020, ice cream maker Graeter's began to sell vegan dairy ice cream based on Perfect Day products. [20] Perfect Day also began supplying the company Smitten Ice Cream for its N'ice Cream products. [21]

A bagel with Modern Kitchen strawberry cream cheese Modern Kitchen strawberry cream cheese 4.jpg
A bagel with Modern Kitchen strawberry cream cheese

In September 2021 Perfect Day started marketing an animal-free cream cheese under the brand Modern Kitchen. [22]

In November 2021, Perfect Day announced its entrance into the sports nutrition market, offering vegan whey protein powders under the California Performance Co. brand. [23]

Chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavored milk sold with the Bored Cow brand Bored Cow 1.jpg
Chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavored milk sold with the Bored Cow brand

In 2022, the company Tomorrow Farms launched Bored Cow, a brand of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry milk made with Perfect Day's whey. [24]

Technology

To produce whey and casein proteins from non-animal sources, Perfect Day bioengineered microbiota to include DNA sequences that instruct the cells to produce proteins that are conventionally found in cow's milk. [13] [25] The microbiota are then grown in fermentation tanks where they convert a carbohydrate source such as corn syrup into flora-based dairy protein. [13]

Similar recombinant technology is used elsewhere in the food industry, including to make rennet (a common cheesemaking enzyme) and heme. [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] The resulting protein, once separated from the genetically modified microbiota, [25] [26] has the same organoleptic and nutritional properties as its animal-derived analog. [13] After they are separated and dried into a powder, the proteins are used as ingredients in other foods that conventionally contain dairy protein. [13] [1] [31] [32]

Backing

Perfect Day raised $61.5 million between 2014 and 2019, primarily supported by Horizons Ventures, a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm, and Temasek Holdings, the investment company that manages the government wealth of Singapore. [3] For their Series C investment round, the company announced they had raised an additional $140 million in December 2019, [33] [34] and this amount was expanded to $300 million in July 2020. [35] The CPP Investment Board has invested in Perfect Day. [19] The total funding received was $360 million as of October 2020. [10]

The Postcode Lottery Green Challenge awarded the company a runner-up prize of €200,000 in September 2015 (equivalent to US$ 280,000in 2022). [36] [37]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dairy product</span> Food product made from milk

Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food around the world such as yogurt, cheese, milk and butter. A facility that produces dairy products is known as a dairy. Dairy products are consumed worldwide to varying degrees. Some people avoid some or all dairy products because of lactose intolerance, veganism, or other health reasons or beliefs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rennet</span> Complex of enzymes from the stomachs of young ruminant mammals, used in the production of cheese

Rennet is a complex set of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant mammals. Chymosin, its key component, is a protease enzyme that curdles the casein in milk. In addition to chymosin, rennet contains other enzymes, such as pepsin and a lipase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veganism</span> Way of living that avoids the use of animals

Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vegetarian cuisine</span> Food not including meat

Vegetarian cuisine is based on food that meets vegetarian standards by not including meat and animal tissue products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dairy</span> Place where milk is stored and where butter and cheese are made or sold

A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also describe a dairy farm or the part of a mixed farm dedicated to milk for human consumption, whether from cows, buffaloes, goats, sheep, horses or camels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whey</span> Liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained

Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of hard cheese, like cheddar or Swiss cheese. Acid whey is a byproduct brought out during the making of acid types of dairy products, such as strained yogurt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lacto vegetarianism</span> Vegetarian diet that includes dairy products

A lacto-vegetarian diet is a diet that abstains from the consumption of meat as well as eggs, while still consuming dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, ghee, cream, and kefir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whey protein</span> Protein supplement

Whey protein is a mixture of proteins isolated from whey, the liquid material created as a by-product of cheese production. The proteins consist of α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, serum albumin and immunoglobulins. Glycomacropeptide also makes up the third largest component but is not a protein. Whey protein is commonly marketed as a protein supplement, and various health claims have been attributed to it. A review published in 2010 in the European Food Safety Authority Journal concluded that the provided literature did not adequately support the proposed claims. For muscle growth, whey protein has been shown to be slightly better compared to other types of protein, such as casein or soy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pareve</span> Kashrut classification of foods free from dairy and meat

In kashrut, the dietary laws of Judaism, pareve is a classification of edible substances that contain neither dairy nor meat ingredients. Food in this category includes all items that grow from the ground, fish, eggs, and non-biological edible items.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plant milk</span> Milk-like drink made from plant-based ingredients

Plant milk is a plant beverage with a color resembling that of milk. Plant milks are non-dairy beverages made from a water-based plant extract for flavoring and aroma. Plant milks are consumed as alternatives to dairy milk, and may provide a creamy mouthfeel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milk substitute</span> Alternative substance that resembles milk

A milk substitute is any substance that resembles milk and can be used in the same ways as milk. Such substances may be variously known as non-dairy beverage, nut milk, grain milk, legume milk, mock milk and alternative milk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camel milk</span> Milk produced by female camels

Camel milk is milk from female camels. It has supported nomad and pastoral cultures since the domestication of camels millennia ago. Herders may for periods survive solely on the milk when taking the camels on long distances to graze in desert and arid environments, especially in parts of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa. The camel dairy farming industry has grown in Australia and the United States, as an environmentally friendly alternative to cow dairy farming using a species well-adapted to arid regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strained yogurt</span> Yogurt thickened by draining whey

Strained yogurt, Greek yogurt, yogurt cheese, sack yogurt or kerned yogurt is yogurt that has been strained to remove most of its whey, resulting in a thicker consistency than normal unstrained yogurt, while still preserving the distinctive sour taste of yogurt. Like many types, strained yogurt is often made from milk enriched by boiling off some water content, or by adding extra butterfat and powdered milk. In Europe and North America, it is often made from low-fat or fat-free cow's milk. In Iceland, a similar product named skyr is made.

New Harvest is a donor-funded research institute dedicated to the field of cellular agriculture, focusing on advances in scientific research efforts surrounding cultured animal products. Its research aims to resolve growing environmental and ethical concerns associated with industrial livestock production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vegan cheese</span> Cheese-like substance made without animal products

Vegan cheese is a category of non-dairy, plant-based cheese analogues. Vegan cheeses range from soft fresh cheeses to aged and cultured hard grateable cheeses like plant-based Parmesan. The defining characteristic of vegan cheese is the exclusion of all animal products.

This page is a timeline of major events in the history of cellular agriculture. Cellular agriculture refers to the development of agricultural products - especially animal products - from cell cultures rather than the bodies of living organisms. This includes in vitro or cultured meat, as well as cultured dairy, eggs, leather, gelatin, and silk. In recent years a number of cellular animal agriculture companies and non-profits have emerged due to technological advances and increasing concern over the animal welfare and rights, environmental, and public health problems associated with conventional animal agriculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cellular agriculture</span> Production of agriculture products from cell cultures

Cellular agriculture focuses on the production of agricultural products from cell cultures using a combination of biotechnology, tissue engineering, molecular biology, and synthetic biology to create and design new methods of producing proteins, fats, and tissues that would otherwise come from traditional agriculture. Most of the industry is focused on animal products such as meat, milk, and eggs, produced in cell culture rather than raising and slaughtering farmed livestock which is associated with substantial global problems of detrimental environmental impacts, animal welfare, food security and human health. Cellular agriculture is a field of the biobased economy. The most well known cellular agriculture concept is cultured meat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brave Robot</span>

Brave Robot is a brand of vegan ice cream made using Perfect Day's synthesized milk proteins. It has no lactose, but does include synthetic molecules reproducing those found in milk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remilk</span>

Remilk is a multi-national Israeli company that specializes in the production of cultured milk and dairy products. The company was founded in 2019 by CEO Aviv Wolff and CTO Ori Cohavi. It has developed a method of yeast-based fermentation to produce milk proteins with an identical chemical compound to that of milk traditionally produced by cows.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Perfect Day Foods: Dairy Without Compromise". New Harvest. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  2. 1 2 Compton, Natalie B. (2016-10-06). "This Startup Is Making Dairy Milk Without Cows". Munchies. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  3. 1 2 Leber, Jessica (2016-08-18). "These Vegan Dairy Products Are Made From Milk–There Just Aren't Any Cows Involved". Fast Company. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  4. Synbiota (2014-11-12). "Synbiota Users Raise Over $3 Million Dollars After Graduating From Indie Bio Accelerator". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
  5. 1 2 Harvest, New (2017-03-06). "Perfect Day Foods — The Company We Founded Making Milk Without Cows". Medium. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
  6. "This Startup Wants to Make Cow's Milk Without Cows". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  7. Nguyen, Tuan (July 16, 2014). "Man-made cow's milk may soon be a reality". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  8. Rowland, Michael Pellman. "The Most Effective Way To Save The Planet". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  9. "Dairy Ice Cream, No Cow Needed: These Egg And Milk Proteins Are Made Without Animals". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  10. 1 2 "Disney's Bob Iger to join board of animal-free dairy maker Perfect Day". Reuters. 2020-10-21. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
  11. "Fake milk is real news, as synthetic alternatives threaten traditional dairy farms". NBCNews.com. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  12. 1 2 "Move Over, Fake Meat—Cow-Less Milk and Cheese Are On the Way". Bloomberg Government. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 foodnavigator-usa.com. "Perfect Day in talks with food industry partners to commercialize animal-free dairy ingredients". foodnavigator-usa.com. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  14. "The Quest to Make Cow-Free Milk Takes A Big Step Forward". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  15. Bandoim, Lana. "Perfect Day Partners With ADM To Make Milk Without Cows". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  16. Mulvany, Lydia (2018-11-15). "Making Whey Without the Dairy Curds, Now Brought to You by ADM". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  17. foodnavigator-usa.com. "Perfect Day partners with ADM to commercialize animal free dairy proteins". foodnavigator-usa.com. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  18. "The First 'Animal-Free' Ice Cream Hits the Market". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  19. 1 2 Shieber, Jonathan (2020-07-15). "Brave Robot ice cream launches as the first brand from the Perfect Day-backed Urgent Company". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
  20. "Graeter's Ice Cream partners with Perfect Day to redefine dairy indulgence" (Press release). PR Newswire. 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-12-05.
  21. Melody Bomgardner (5 October 2020). "Can Start-Ups Make Us Love Animal-Free Dairy?". C&E News. p. 30.
  22. "The Urgent Company and Perfect Day unveil 2nd animal-free dairy brand: Modern Kitchen cream cheese".
  23. "Perfect Day Enters Protein Powder Category, Further Showcasing The Nutrition And Performance Of Its Animal-Free Protein".
  24. Starostinetskaya, Anna. "This Is the World's First "Real" Chocolate Milk Made without Cows". VegNews.com. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  25. 1 2 "Why Fermentation Is the Future of Food Tech". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  26. 1 2 "'Meat breweries' that make protein instead of beer - SFChronicle.com". www.sfchronicle.com. 2017-05-03. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  27. Post, Washington (1990-03-24). "FDA Approves 1st Genetically Engineered Product for Food". Los Angeles Times. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  28. "National Centre for Biotechnology Education | GM Food | Chymosin". archive.fo. 2012-12-23. Archived from the original on 2012-12-23. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  29. Johnson, M. E.; Lucey, J. A. (April 2006). "Major technological advances and trends in cheese". Journal of Dairy Science. 89 (4): 1174–1178. doi: 10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(06)72186-5 . ISSN   1525-3198. PMID   16537950.
  30. Hoshaw, Lindsey (21 June 2016). "Silicon Valley's Bloody Plant Burger Smells, Tastes And Sizzles Like Meat". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  31. Shapiro, Paul (2018). Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals Will Revolutionize Dinner and the World. Gallery Books. p. 190.
  32. "Introducing SynBio axlr8r!". RebelBio. 2013-11-21. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  33. Terazono, Emiko (2019-12-11). "Vegan dairy group Perfect Day valued at $440m in funding round". Financial Times. London. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  34. Mack, Heather (2019-12-11). "Temasek Leads Growth Round for Animal-Free Dairy Startup Perfect Day". Wall Street Journal. New York. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  35. Kowitt, Beth (2020-07-08). "Perfect Day raises $300 million to make animal-free dairy". Fortune. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  36. "Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge - Technology for nature restoration wins €500,000". www.greenchallenge.info. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  37. "Euro to Us Dollar Exchange rate history: 15 September 2015 (15/09/2015)". www.poundsterlinglive.com. Retrieved 2019-06-07.