Frothing for tasty dairy substitutes

What do you call a militant vegan? Lactose intolerant. There is a grain of truth in such barbs. Conscientious herbivores show commitment. They even drink oat milk, a substance reminiscent of wallpaper paste. If you abstain from eating animals, why not forswear milk and cheese too?

That subcultural belief could be about to go mainstream, creating opportunities and threats for food companies. The scorching debut of faux-burger maker Beyond Meat demonstrates the interest in plant-based foods. Ordinary consumers are switching from beef patties to veggie burgers. Some would surely swap milk and cheese for palatable alternatives.

There is an environmental argument for doing so. Producing a glass of dairy milk releases almost three times the greenhouse gases of nondairy substitutes, according to a University of Oxford study. |

However, the case for shunning dairy products is not clear cut. Dairy’s carbon footprint is closer to soya than meat, says Emmanuel Faber, boss of multinational Danone. A predictable comment, perhaps, from the world’s largest yoghurt maker. But Danone is also Europe’s largest plant-based food business, with plans to triple sales to €5bn by 2025.

Herds can improve the health of soil, helping it store more carbon, by trampling and grazing. Improving yields have helped reduce greenhouse gases emitted per kilogram of milk by 1% a year since 2005.

Nondairy alternatives are already the biggest category of plant-based alternatives. These are expanding fast. Venture capital is frothing into start-ups, and full-fat profits await innovators that can produce substitutes that mimic the taste of dairy as well as its appearance. But the environmental argument for alt-milk is nothing like that for alt-meat in strength. /London, September 9

© The Financial Times 2019