REHOVOT, ISRAEL – Biotech and food tech developer Wilk announced the successful development of a hybrid yogurt concept product made with cell-cultured milk fat.

The Israeli company shared that its new yogurt makes use of Wilk’s cell-culturing technology to create the “full nutritional benefits found in real milk fats.”

“This is a significant milestone, not just for Wilk, but for the Israeli food tech space and wider global industry,” said Tomer Aizen, Wilk’s chief executive officer. “It signifies a major breakthrough in demonstrating our ability to produce functional cell-cultured milk components that can be integrated into a wide array of dairy products and brings us closer to realizing our goal – to produce authentic dairy products in a sustainable and environmentally conscientious manner that will drive the industry forward.”

Per Wilk, the yogurt was validated by external laboratories to confirm it met necessary chemical and biological requirements. The company also presented the concept product to the public for tasting.

The researchers and developers at Wilk chose yogurt for their first hybrid product containing cell-cultured fat because milk fat is a key component in dairy products, giving them distinct flavors and textures. 

The company, which launched in 2020, also made it known that developing the yogurt will support Wilk’s work toward developing human milk fat components that will be used to make infant formula. The company revealed it will direct “the majority of its resources” toward that work. Wilk pointed out that human milk fat contributes to “maintaining an infant’s digestive system, as well as the development of its brain and nervous system.”