Almost like real and lactose-free
Eclipse Foods has come up with products with the taste of real milk, but without milk
Stepan Ikaev, Hi-tech+
The New Zealand startup Eclipse Foods develops plant-based dairy products and aims to displace milk, yoghurts, ice cream and other animal products from the global market. Its co-founders set themselves the goal of completely ridding the food industry of animal husbandry, which, in their opinion, should be facilitated by the fact that 70% of the world's inhabitants do not tolerate lactose. The main development of the startup is a created and patented substance responsible for the taste of milk, but not a dairy product.
A distinctive feature of Eclipse Foods is the history of its creators.
According to TechCrunch, the startup was founded by Eilon Steinhart and Thomas Bowman. Steinhart is an expert on alternative proteins, who previously worked at the Good Food Institute and launched several dozen food tech startups. And Bowman is a well-known chef, who is also known for creating alternatives to traditional egg products for more than a decade. Together, entrepreneurs want to create dairy products that will not be inferior to the original taste, texture and useful substances.
"No one in the dairy industry has yet created a real alternative to dairy products, only substitutes. Therefore, we are taking on a dairy market worth $500 billion. Fun fact: 70% of the world's population is lactose intolerant. Therefore, we will be able to capture a much larger market share and get a lot more dollars if we make something that everyone can use. We will give consumers a choice," Steinhart said.
Eclipse Foods' technology relies on mimicking micelles, which Steinhart calls "the microscopic magic of milk." These substances are contained in ordinary milk and give the products the same "milky taste", but the startup managed to create a mechanical process to reproduce the micelles from cassava, corn and potatoes. Using a patented approach, the company transforms its micelles into almost any dairy products, including ice cream, cream cheese, butter and yoghurts. They taste no different from the real ones, but there is no milk in them.
Over the past two years, Eclipse Foods has commercialized several types of ice cream, and has also gained a foothold in the retail sector — now the startup's vegetable products are sold in Whole Foods Market, Albertsons, Vons, Gopuff, Good Eggs and Gorillas. In the coming weeks, the startup will organize deliveries of the first milkshakes, and then will gradually expand its range until it covers all categories of traditional products. Further, the company is confident that consumers will get a choice and make it in favor of Eclipse Foods.
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