In an unassuming building in Stratford, east London, British startup Better Dairy makes cheese that has never seen a meadow or field but, the company claims, tastes just as good as the real thing.
It is one of the few companies in the world hoping to bring lab-grown cheese to market in the next few years. However, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), there has been a recent trend away from meatless products.
Statutory research organization AHDB reports that in the first quarter of 2025, sales of plant-based cheese in the UK fell by 25.6%, while sales of "cow cheese" increased by 3%.
One reason for this, according to the AHDB, may be that the number of vegans in the UK is small - just 1% of the population (3% according to the Vegan Society), far less than the number of dairy cheese consumers - and has recently declined slightly. The Vegan Society insists that the market for meat-free products remains "competitive" and stable.
Other reasons could be health concerns and price. A recent government survey found that ultra-processed foods - a key issue with vegan cheese - was the second most important concern for consumers, the first being cost. According to the AHDB, plant-based cheese tends to be more expensive than cheese made from cow's milk.
So are these efforts a recipe for success or failure? Some believe that the coming years represent an opportunity.
Promising cheese
In the Netherlands, Those Vegan Cowboys plans to introduce its cheese to the US market later this year and to Europe three to four years later due to regulatory barriers. This is because lab-produced cheese is considered a "new product" and therefore needs EU approval to be sold.
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CEO Hille van der Kaa admits that demand for vegan cheese is currently low, but her company is aiming for a "silent revolution" by substituting cheeses that people don't often think about. "When you buy a frozen pizza, you don't think about what cheese is on it," she explains. "That's why it's pretty easy to substitute."
Meanwhile, French company Standing Ovation plans to enter the US market next year and the UK and Europe in 2027. And in Stratford, London-based Better Dairy has yet to launch lab-grown cheese because it would cost too much to do so now.
But CEO Jevan Nagarajah plans to start production in three or four years, when he hopes the price will be closer to that in cheese stores and then bring it down to supermarket levels.
Does it taste good
"Better Dairy invited Alex Phillips, a senior journalist for BBC News - a confirmed meat eater and dairy lover - into their lab to try this new cheese.
The company currently only produces cheddar because it believes vegan hard cheeses have the biggest "quality gap" compared to dairy cheeses. It has produced blue cheese, mozzarella and soft cheese, but claims that the proteins in dairy products don't have as big an impact on flavor.
The process starts with yeast that has been genetically modified to produce casein, a key milk protein, in addition to alcohol. Jevan says it's the same technique used to produce
insulin without having to extract it from pigs.
Other companies also use bacteria or fungi to produce casein. Once casein is produced using this precise fermentation, it is mixed with vegetable fat and other components of
milk needed to make cheese, and then the traditional cheese-making process follows.
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"After trying Better Dairy cheddars aged for three, six, and twelve months, I can say that they taste closer to real cheese than anything I've tasted before. The younger cheese was perhaps a little more rubbery than usual, and the more aged cheese was saltier. The cheese melted well in the burger," says Alex Phillips.
Jevan admits there is room for improvement. He says the cheese Phillips tasted was produced in his lab, but in the future he wants artisan cheesemakers to use the company's non-dairy "milk" in their own labs to improve the flavor.
Since the company can't use dairy fats, it had to "optimize" vegetable fats to improve their flavor. "If you've tasted plant-based cheeses, you know that many of them have an extraneous flavor that usually comes from the use of nut or coconut fats, which give the cheese a flavor it doesn't normally have," says Better Dairy scientist Kate Royle.
Meanwhile, Those Vegan Cowboys remains focused on cheeses that can be easily substituted, such as pizza and hamburger cheeses, and Standing Ovation says its casein can be used to make a range of cheeses, including Camembert.
Fans of new cheeses
Finding fans for these cheeses will be a challenge. According to an AHDB survey, 40% of those who bought vegan cheese at the market last year did not buy it again, indicating that the flavor can be repulsive.
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Damian Watson of the Vegan Community notes that similarity to the actual product may not be a priority. "Some vegans want the flavor and texture of their food to be similar to meat, fish or dairy products, while others want something completely different," he says.
And Judith Bryans, chief executive of industry organization Dairy UK, believes the status quo will remain unchanged. "There is no evidence that the advent of lab-grown products will lead to a contraction of the existing market, and it is not yet known how these products will be perceived and priced by consumers," she says.
However, both Better Dairy and Those Vegan Cowboys are advertising partnerships with cheese makers to increase production and reduce costs, and Standing Ovation has already partnered with Bel (maker of BabyBel).
Standing Ovation CEO Ivan Chardonens characterizes the recent unpopularity as the first wave of failures of vegan cheese "analogs" because of their quality, but hopes the situation will improve in the next phase.
In addition to current concerns about the shrinking vegan market, flavor, quality and price, these companies may have to address the issue of ultra-processed products.
Company officials argue that the lack of lactose, cholesterol and low saturated fat in lab-produced cheese can enhance its health benefits - and that any cheese is a processed product.
Precise fermentation can also allow producers to get rid of many of the ultra-processed elements found in today's vegan cheeses.
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Hille suggests that it is a matter of perception. She says people have a "romanticized view" of dairy farming, despite the fact that it is now "completely industrialized" - a point supported by the AHDB survey, which found that 71% of consumers believe dairy products are natural.
"I wouldn't say it's really a traditional, natural kind of product," states Hille. "We have an important task in front of us to show people how cheese is made these days."