Fake milk CEO: Dairy ‘has no right to exist’ due to ‘climate change’

The executive of a popular fake dairy manufacturer says the dairy industry “has no right to exist” because of its greenhouse gas emissions.

Aviv Wolff is the founder and CEO of Israeli startup Remilk, a rising star in the fake food industry. Remilk, which has so far raised $150 million in funding, last month obtained approval from Israel’s Health Ministry to sell its fake whey protein. The company already received regulatory approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Singapore Food Authority (SFA) last year.

Remilk produces whey protein in a lab which it claims is “100% identical to cow’s protein”. Whey is used in 80% of dairy products, including yogurts, ice cream, milk and soft cheeses. The company intends to also start producing lab-grown casein protein, which is found in hard cheeses.

One of Wolff’s primary motivations for starting Remilk was the environmental impact of the dairy industry, which he says should not exist.

“On the environmental side, in order to avoid an environmental catastrophe, the food industry needs to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The dairy industry has no way to do this and that means that in the long run, in an era of climate crisis, it has no right to exist. The only way is transformation. Our technology can save 95% of emissions. The dairy industry will never reach these numbers,” Wolff told Calcalist.

The fake food enthusiast also said he hopes to capitalize on veganism and put dairy farmers out of business.

“The dairy industry is struggling to survive,” he said. “50% of an American dairy farmer's income comes from government subsidies. This number will have to grow dramatically in the coming decades as in the past two decades more than half of the dairy farms in the U.S. closed due to financial pressure. The profit margins are very low. 

“This is the most central factor that will help us take market shares from the traditional industry: we will remove the economic interest from building a dairy farm and milking cows. We also see that consumer preferences are changing, especially among the younger generations. There is a sharp decrease in the desire of the young to consume animal products and specifically milk. In the natural cycle of life, the expectation is for the sector to grow and the consumption of animal milk to decrease."

Remilk has established a large plant in Denmark to manufacture cheese, yogurt and ice cream using its fake protein.