‘Cow-free’ milk to hit Israeli shelves – but can it be parev?

Nonetheless, the manufacturer insists that taste tests have shown it to be almost indistinguishable in taste and texture from the real thing.

Three per cent fat and vanilla-flavoured versions will be available in supermarkets early next year.

But a special barista line, tailored towards the hospitality industry, will be sold at select cafés and restaurants within the next few weeks. The sales operation will expand to the US at a later date, the company confirmed.

The entire range is based on Remilk’s proprietary base protein, which chief technical officer Ori Cohavi claims are chemically identical to traditional dairy proteins, allowing New Milk to retain the same “taste, texture, and functionality” as cow milk.

Cohavi told The Times of Israel: “We believe that we have reached the level that we can claim it to be the new milk, which is something that required five years of developing at our R&D lab in Israel and $150 million in investment.

“It foams like regular milk, it tastes like milk, and behaves like milk, whether it is used for cooking or other applications.

“This is something that you cannot do with other products that are currently available in the alternative dairy market.”

The protein is developed through a yeast-based fermentation process, the product of which is dried into a powder to use as a base for the milk.

From there, it can be drunk directly or, just like regular milk, be used in other dairy products such as ice cream, custard or cream cheese, while remaining lactose and cholesterol free.

But the breakthrough has prompted some rabbinical discussion as to whether or not the product would be parev.

Remilk CEO Aviv Wolff said: “Our new milk products are good news for many consumers who keep kosher and can now drink coffee with parev milk after a meat meal that tastes like real milk.”

This principle was backed by a vote in the Rabbinical Assembly last November, with a panel of senior rabbis voting 16-1 in favour of a ruling that “lab-grown” milk was kosher.

The kashrut status of products created with the use of the ingreident would depend on “other ingredients”, they said.

Rabbi Jeremy Conway, rabbinic consultant to Kosher London Beth Din, explained that since the products did not come “from an animal’s udder (or any other part of an animal)”, they were “not milk” as defined by halachah and “therefore are to be considered parev”. He told the JC: “It is certainly possible that the ‘milk’ could be kosher and parev, assuming all the ingredients and processing aids come from a kosher source.

“It is difficult to give a concrete view without detailed information on the actual manufacturing process, but this is an extraordinary breakthrough and potentially a very exciting development for kosher consumers, restaurants and chefs.

“Life may be easier for a great number of cows, too.”