Mooless

The Mission

To create a world where the cheese we know and love is sustainable, ethical and better for your health.

The challenge

Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation and is responsible for approximately 60% of direct global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The production of cheese is a leading GHG generator —surpassing pork, chicken and eggs— due to its excessive land use, methane and nitrous oxide release. Beyond its environmental cost, dairy farming exploits cows by artificially inseminating them again and again until their bodies are considered “spent”, at which point the cow is slaughtered. During their short lifespan, cows are routinely injected with antibiotics, which leads to antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans, posing a major threat to human health.

The solution

Mooless cheese implements molecular farming technology to create the same cheese we know and love, only better. By modifying a plant’s protein-encoding RNA, scientists can direct it to generate the key ingredient that makes cheese stretch, ooze and melt. This ingredient is known as casein, and it is the protein found in cow’s milk. Once plants expressing the casein produce seeds, the protein can be harvested at a large scale. When considerable amounts of casein are produced, it’s cheesemaking time! Taking our casein, we add the required plant-based fats, salts, minerals, vitamins and a touch of sugar which, with enough stirring, turns into the traditional cheese we know and love. The best thing about it? No antibiotics, no growth hormones, no cholesterol and no lactose, making it a sustainable, ethical and healthier practice that will rewrite the future of food and agriculture forever.