INFORM April 2025

PROCESSING

inform April 2025, Vol. 36 (4) • 11

Plant biotechnology company Mozza Foods CEO, Adam Tarshis, was similarly motivated. Tarshis started eating a plant based diet due to environmental and animal welfare concerns, but plant-based cheeses missed the mark. “The only thing I missed was cheese,” said Tarshis. STRUCTURES THAT STRETCH The stretch of cheese comes from casein. The proteins have a structure that no combination of plant proteins can dupli cate. Milk contains four types of casein: alpha-s1, alpha-s2, beta, and kappa caseins. Each casein fraction has differ ent weights and charges. Compared to other proteins they are unstructured with strands resembling something like a bowl of noodles. When heated, there is minimal structure to unfold. This helps give cheese its stretch when melted and the ability to return to its original state when cooled. In milk, the different types of casein combine to form micelles—small spheres, 100 to 150 nanometers in diameter. Casein accounts for approximately 80 percent of the protein in milk, most existing as micelles. The different types of casein in the micelles react differently to acids, salts, and enzymes, all of which influence the cheesemaking process. The only known natural source of casein is animal milk, but it is now possible to make individual casein proteins and micelles without involving animals. There are two major bio technology methods currently being used to make animal-free casein, either through microbes or plants. Although the meth ods are different, each uses recombinant DNA to code for the

Alpine Bio founder and CEO, Magi Richani, applied her engineering expertise to produce soybean grown, casein proteins at industrial scale.