Not So Precise Fermentation: Lab Finds 92 Unknown Compounds in Synthetic Biology Milk

Testing reveals unknown molecules and fungicide in Bored Cow dairy alternative; findings dispute claims that synthetic biology-produced dairy protein is identical to real dairy protein.

A laboratory recently discovered 92 unknown compounds in an alternative dairy product produced using a “precision fermentation” process that involves the use of genetic engineering.

Molecules unknown to science

Iowa-based Health Research Institute (HRI) tested a Bored Cow product, which is described as “a milk alternative made with milk protein from fermentation instead of cows.” Using full spectrum molecular analysis technology, HRI found 92 small molecules in the product that are unknown to science, according to John Fagan, chief science officer at HRI.

“They’re completely novel to our food,” he says. “They are things that we haven’t consumed as human beings.”

Fagan scanned scientific literature and databases to determine whether the molecules had nutritional or other beneficial properties and found nothing.

“I couldn’t even find the scientific name for the vast majority of the molecules present in the Bored Cow product. They are nutritional dark matter,” Fagan says.