Lab-Gro Paneer is coming-but will you eat it?

In an unmatched building in Stratford, East London, British Start-Up is making better dairy cheese, which has never seen a Udder, which makes it argue the taste like a real thing.

It is one of a handful of companies around the world that expects to bring lab-goo cheese to our dinner table over the next few years.

But according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), there has been a trend recently from meat-free foods.

The statutory research organization says the plant-based cheese sales in the UK declined by 25.6% in the first quarter of 2025, while cow’s cheese sales increased by 3%.

One of the reasons for this, AHDB tells the BBC, as the number of vegetarian people in the UK is small – only 1% of the population (vegetarian society keeps it on 3%), dairy cheese is much less than the amount of eaters – and has recently declined a bit.

The vegetarian society says that the meat-free food market remains “competitive” and stable.

Other reasons may be concerned about health and price. A Recent government survey Found that food is being ultra -violent – a significant challenge with vegetarian cheese – the second biggest concern for consumers, the first cost. Plant-based cheese is usually more expensive than cow’s cheese, says AHDB.

So is this effort a recipe for success or disaster? Some people think that the coming years present an opportunity.

In the Netherlands, those vegetarian cowboys hopes to bring their things to the US later this year, and Europe in three to four years due to regulatory obstacles. This is because lab-made things are counted as “novel food” and therefore requires the approval of the European Union to go on sale.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Hile Van Der Kaa, Vagon believes for cheese that his company is still low, but his company is targeting a “silent revolution”, which people do not think often by swaping people.

“If you buy frozen pizza, you don’t really think about what kind of cheese on it,” she says. “So it is quite easy to swap.”

Meanwhile, the French firm Standing Owshon planned to launch in the US next year, and in 2027 in the UK and Europe.

And back to Stratford, London-based Better Dairy has not yet launched its lab-Gro Paneer as it will cost too much.

But Chief Executive Jevan Nagaraja plans to launch in three or four years, when he hopes that before going down for the type seen in a supermarket, one will be close to the people seen in the Meargar.

So does it taste any good?

Better dairy invited me – a committed carnivor and dairy devotees – in its laboratory to strike a hole in this new cheese.

Currently, the company is only making cakes because it sees vegetarian hard things as the biggest “quality difference” for dairy things. It has created blue cheese, mozerela and soft cheese, but the protein in dairy argues that there is not that much difference in taste.

This process begins with yeast which is genetically modified to produce major proteins in cassin, milk rather than alcohol. Jevan says that this is the technique that is used to produce insulin, which harvested it from pigs.

Other companies also use bacteria or fungi to produce casein.

Once the casein is made through this accurate fermentation, it is mixed with plant-based fat and other components of milk required for cheese, and then the process of making traditional cheese.

After trying for three months, six months and 12 months old cake of better dairy, I can say that they taste close to the real thing, which I have tried. The small cheese was probably slightly more rubber than normal, and the older more clearly was salty. On a burger, the cheese melted well.

The jewelery accepts that there is place for improvement. He says that the cheese I tried was built in his laboratory, but in the future, the artisan wants to use the non-dairy “milk” of the firm in its laboratories to improve the taste.

Since the company cannot use dairy fat, they have to “customize” plant-rich fat to improve taste.

“If you have experienced plant-based things, there are many flavors of them, and usually it comes from trying to use walnut-based or coconut fat-and they offer tastes that are not there normally,” better dairy scientists say Kate Royal.

Meanwhile, they are still focusing on vegetarian cowboys, such as on pizza and burgers, while on standing, ovation says that its casein can make many things including Camembert.

Will these new cheese get their match?

This will be a long order. According to the AHDB survey, 40% of those who bought vegetarian cheese in the market in the last one year had not re-bought it-suggestion of the suggestion could be a turn-off.

Damian Watson of the Vegan Society states that even the realization of the real thing cannot be a good thing.

“Some vegetarians want the taste and texture of their food to be like meat, fish or dairy, and want something completely different,” he tells me.

And Judith Brians, Chief Executive Officer of Industry Body Dairy UK, feels that the status quo will be strong.

“There is no evidence to suggest that the laboratory will take away from the existing market in addition to the products developed in the laboratory, and it remains to be seen where these products will fit from the perspective of consumer perception and value,” she tells the BBC.

But both better dairy and those vegetarian cowboys deferred partnership with cheese producers to score and keep the cost low, while Standing Ovens have already partnered with BEL (manufacturers of Babybel).

Yavan Chardonance, CEO of Standing Ovavation, recently featured apophylia, as the first wave in the “analogs” of cheese due to quality, as the first wave, while expecting them to improve the next stage.

In addition to current concerns about a shrinking vegetarian market, taste, quality and price, the issue of ultra-like food items is that these companies may have to struggle.

They argue that lactose deficiency, no cholesterol and lower amounts of saturated fat in labs can promote its health benefits – and that any cheese is processed.

Accurate fermentation can also allow producers to snatch many ultra-processed elements of current vegetarian things.

Hile suggests that it is a question of perception. People have a “romantic view” of dairy farming, she says, yet despite “being completely industrial” – a point supported by AHDB Polling, in which 71% of consumers saw the dairy naturally.

“I wouldn’t say that this is actually a traditional, natural type of food,” the wander is the argument.

“We have an important task to show people how cheese is made nowadays.”