{"id":18108,"date":"2021-10-07T10:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T14:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=18108"},"modified":"2021-09-20T11:13:48","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T15:13:48","slug":"whey-produced-from-a-genetic-code-is-it-animal-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/10\/07\/whey-produced-from-a-genetic-code-is-it-animal-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Whey produced from a genetic code: Is It \u201cAnimal-Free\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nVRG has recently noticed several startup companies in the food ingredient space\nmarketing their products with an obvious appeal to vegans and vegetarians, as\nwell as to other consumers with certain dietary restrictions, such as the\nlactose intolerant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\nin Part 1 of a series, we look at the whey protein isolate manufactured by\nPerfect Day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\ntheir website, Perfect Day is clear about how they manufacture their whey. They\nstart with a piece of a genetic code for beta-lactoglobulin<\/a> (the scientific name for one form of whey). They\nfound this genetic information available for free on a website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actual<\/em>\ngenetic material on which the virtual<\/em> genetic code is based was\ninitially taken from the blood of 8-year-old L1 Dominette 01449<\/a>, a cow living in Montana, in 2009. Her blood was used\nin the Bovine Genome Project which mapped all 22,000 genes that make up the\nentire cow genetic signature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perfect\nDay acquired the bovine code<\/a>\nfrom a free online database called UniProt<\/em> (abbreviation of universal\nprotein resource<\/em>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then\nPerfect Day inserted the genetic code for beta-lactoglobulin into Trichoderma<\/em>,\na type of fungus. In a large fermentation tank growing on corn sugar, the\nmicrobes followed the genetic directions given to it. As a result, Trichoderma<\/em>\nproduced large amounts of whey that were later separated and purified from the\nfermentation broth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nVRG wanted to know if cane sugar was ever used as the growth medium. This could\nbe an additional concern for some vegans and vegetarians if the cane sugar had\nbeen processed through a cow bone char filter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through\nemail communication in July 2021, Kathleen Nay, Public Affairs and Content\nSpecialist at Perfect Day, informed The VRG:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt\npresent we use sugar derived from corn. However, our process is feedstock\nagnostic and can be adapted to local sugar production depending on where the\nfermentation takes place, to tap into or expand sugar markets. We certainly\ncould use cane sugar if the opportunity were there.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\nfar in 2021, this whey protein isolate is an ingredient in the \u201cvegan,\u201d\n\u201cplant-based,\u201d or \u201canimal-free\u201d ice cream products as marketed by these three\nbrands:<\/p>\n\n\n\n