Eclipse Foods may be the company that finally takes milk out of the dairy business. Ever since the acquisition of WhiteWave Foods by the French dairy giant Danone for over $10 billion investors have been thirsting for a technology that would give consumers a better tasting, more milky (for lack of\u2026<\/b>
\nEclipse Foods may be the company that finally takes milk out of the dairy business.
Ever since the acquisition of WhiteWave Foods by the French dairy giant Danone for over $10 billion investors have been thirsting for a technology that would give consumers a better tasting, more milky (for lack of a better word), milk substitute than the highly valuable (but not very tasty) almond, soy, and other plant based dairy alternatives.
There are at least $37.5 billion worth of other reasons for investors\u2019 interest in the milk alternative category. That\u2019s how much money will be spent on dairy alternatives by 2025, according to a newly released study by the market research firm Global Market Insights.
Enter Eclipse Foods. Founded by two veterans of the alternative sugars and proteins business, the company is going after the whole dairy industry, starting with a line of spreads and select additives for restaurants around San Francisco.
\u201cWe had an oh shit moment when we got our plant based milk to act just like the real thing,\u201d says Thomas Beaumon, Eclipse Foods co-founder and the former director of product development at Hampton Creek (now known as Just Foods). \u201cWe\u2019re not pureeing nuts or seeds or legumes. We asked, \u2018What are the properties of milk?\u2019 and built this dairy base of the exact amino acids and fat profile.\u201d
Joining Beaumon on the journey to create the perfect milk substitute is Aylon Steinhart, a former specialist working with the Y Combinator aligned food technology incubator and think tank, the Good Food Institute.
The two men met at the launch event for Just Egg, the fourth product to debut from Just after the release of the company\u2019s mayonnaise alternative, cookie dough, and porridge.
\u201cWe started talking about ideas and landed on this dairy platform,\u201d recalls Steinhart. \u201cIt\u2019s a place where we can make a big change very fast given the technological breakthroughs that we solved for early on.\u201d
The demand is certainly coming on strong. According to Steinhart about 80% of millennials are consuming dairy replacements at least once a week.
Humans didn\u2019t start out drinking milk. Over the 300,000 odd years that some form of homo sapien has been stalking the planet, it has only been in the past 10,000 odd years that people decided to squirt the liquid out of a cow\u2019s udders to consume it.
At first, humans couldn\u2019t even consume the stuff without getting at least a little nauseous. They needed to develop a genetic mutation to even process the lactose sugars properly.
\u201cThe first time that we see the lactase persistence allele in Europe arising is around 5,000 years BP [before present] in southern Europe, and then it starts to kick in central Europe around 3,000 years ago,\u201d assistant professor Laure S\u00e9gurel of the Museum of Humankind in Paris, told the BBC earlier this year.
Segurel speculates that the health benefits of consuming milk might have been related to the exposure (and potential inoculation) to various diseases that may have otherwise spread from the animals to the humans that were raising them.
If that was the rationale, it\u2019s increasingly unnecessary for modern living, and may indeed be more of a hazard to human health.
Global meat and dairy producers could count among the largest contributors to climate change if their growth remains unchecked, according to a report from the non-profit Grain.
They estimate that meat and dairy consumption should be reduced by 81 percent in order to meet global emissions reduction targets.
With the production of Eclipse\u2019s dairy alternative, there\u2019s no animal required.
\u201cWe have an off-the-shelf platform right now. The only additive will be water,\u201d says Beaumon.
And unlike other alternative dairy products, Beaumon and Steinhart claim that theirs actually tastes good. And, as a Michelin starred chef, Beaumon should know.
The company\u2019s first line of products will be a line of cream cheeses, including one for the bagel-and-schmear loving crowd. However, the majority will be more millennial focused, according to Steinhart.
\u201cThere will be various unique flavors that are culinarily focused,\u201d he said.
Expect the first products to debut in an exclusive pilot with Wise Sons and through the ice cream maker Humphry Slochombe, a leader in high end ice cream in SF.
However companies decide to label their Eclipse-based products, they certainly shouldn\u2019t call them vegan, according to Beaumon.
\u201cVegan cheese is gross,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n