Would You Try Cultivated Milk, Cheese, Ice Cream, and Yogurt?

Imagine a world where your morning latte doesn’t come at the expense of a cow’s well-being or the planet’s health. That’s the promise of cultivated dairy—a bold innovation that could spare billions of animals and slash greenhouse gas emissions. Much like “lab-grown” meat, cultivated milk is already here and coming to a grocery store near you, if it hasn’t already. But would you drink it?

What Is Cultivated Milk?

Cultivated milk—also called lab-grown, animal-free, cell-based, bioengineered, and clean milk—is real dairy produced without milking or killing cows. Unlike almond, oat, or soy milk, which are excellent vegan milk options, cultivated milk contains actual milk proteins (casein and whey), identical to those found in cow’s milk.

There are two main ways to make it:

• Mammary Cell Cultures: Scientists grow cow mammary cells in sterile food equipment—the same kind that grows inside the body of an animal.
• Precision Fermentation: Milk-producing genes are inserted into microbes like yeast. When fed sugar, these microbes secrete milk proteins, which are then combined with fats and carbohydrates to create milk.

The result? Dairy that looks, tastes, and behaves like cow’s milk. You can froth it for coffee, make cheese, or churn it into ice cream—without exploiting cows in the process.

Is Cultivated Milk the Same as Dairy Milk?

Cultivated milk is designed to be cellularly identical to milk from cow udders.

Because it’s made in controlled conditions, producers can tweak it—such as removing lactose or adjusting the fat content. One company, for example, is creating a lactose-free product, making it accessible to millions of people who are lactose-intolerant.

How Does Cultivated Milk Help Cows?

Cows are intelligent, social animals who form close friendships within their herds. And just like human mothers, they make milk for their babies.

In order to steal their milk for humans to drink or eat as cheese and ice cream, farmers take newborns from their mothers, causing distress to them both. More folks than ever are flocking to vegan milk, which spares cows this misery. And with the invention of cultivated milk, raising cows to steal their milk will be a thing of the past.

Does PETA Approve of Cultivated Milk?

With the potential to save millions of animals per year and improve the environment, PETA welcomes the invention of cultivated milk. And as long as the company does not test on mice, rats, and other animals unless explicitly required by law, PETA is on board. Companies like Strive Nutrition Corp., the only cultivated dairy brand on PETA’s “Eat Without Experiments” program, show what compassionate innovation looks like: keeping animals out of farms and laboratories.

Can Vegans Drink Cultivated Milk?

Since cultivated milk is made from just a small sample of cells and grown without forcing cows to be pregnant, separated from their babies, or kept in painful conditions, some vegans might be open to trying cultivated dairy. Others will stick with vegan milk made from plants.

The Bottom Line About Cultivated Milk

Cultivated milk is paving the way for a future where exploiting cows for their milk is in the dustbin of history, where it belongs. So whether you’re ready to try cultivated dairy or stick with oat milk, we’re all on the same team working toward a kinder, greener world.

Please, if you haven’t already, help cows today by going vegan. Order your free vegan starter kit today!

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