Bored Cow: Animal-Free Dairy Milks Now Selling At Target Stores Across America

Tomorrow Farms has launched its Bored Cow animal-free milks, made from Perfect Day‘s precision-fermented dairy protein, into select Target stores nationwide.

Animal-free milk is coming to Target shelves across America, as New York startup Tomorrow Farms builds on its nationwide expansion.

Bored Cow, its cow-free dairy brand that uses whey protein from Californian precision fermentation pioneer Perfect Day, is now available at Target stores in the form of a 32oz carton for its Original flavour, and four-packs of 11oz chocolate and strawberry variants.

It makes Target – which recorded over $105.84B in sales last year – the largest retailer to carry Bored Cow products. To mark the milestone, the brand is debuting a new limited-edition Pumpkin Spice flavour of its milk exclusively at the supermarket.

A year of expansion for Bored Cow

Bored Cow was born out of a partnership between Tomorrow Farms and Perfect Day in 2022, starting with flavoured milks (chocolate, strawberry and vanilla) first, before bringing out the original version as well.

They’re a combination of Perfect Day’s bioidentical whey protein – made by feeding microflora on plant sugar in fermentation tanks, in a process akin to beer brewing – sunflower oil, cane sugar, citrus fibre, salt and natural flavours, gellan gum, and acacia, and are fortified with a variety of vitamins and minerals.

The original flavour contains 8g of protein and 3g of sugar per cup, as well as vitamins D and B12, iron calcium and potassium. Plus, none of the milks has any cholesterol or animal hormones.

The success of the Bored Cow range allowed Tomorrow Farms to introduce a drinkable yoghurt line, which debuted at Natural Products Expo West in California in March. The brand introduced the products to stores in New York City in vanilla, passionfruit-mango and strawberry flavours, priced at $2.99 to $3.99 per 7oz bottle.

And in May, Bored Cow announced that its milks were now available in all 50 US states, courtesy of a major expansion into 2,000 new locations of retailers including Albertsons, Safeway, Sprouts, Fresh Thyme, Central Market, and Shaws, among others.

At the same time, Tomorrow Farms became B Corp-certified. “We can only succeed in our mission if we hold ourselves to the highest social and environmental standards,” said founder and CEO Ben Berman. An ISO-certified independent life-cycle assessment has shown that producing Bored Cow requires up to 96% less land and 67% less water, and emits up to 44% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional and organic dairy milk.

Precision fermentation gains ground

Bored Cow’s expansion into Target is the latest win in what is proving to be a big year for precision fermentation, both in terms of regulation and market entry. For starters, its own products are now available in 3,400 stores across the US.

Perfect Day – which was hit with a $134M lawsuit from a manufacturing partner earlier this year – partnered with Unilever to feature its whey protein in a new lactose-free ice cream under the Breyers brand, while Nestlé released a limited-edition animal-free whey protein powder under its Orgain brand, called Better Whey. While one Perfect Day employee seemed to confirm that Nestlé was using its whey, a spokesperson for the startup declined to confirm this on the record.

Meanwhile, San Francisco’s New Culture earned self-affirmed Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status for its precision-fermented casein protein in the US. It followed this up with a manufacturing partnership with South Korean giant CJ CheilJedang.

Dutch startup Vivici also obtained this certification for its whey protein, following Israel’s Imagindairy receiving a ‘no further questions’ letter for its precision-fermented whey from the FDA. Elsewhere, Singapore’s TurtleTree teamed up with Cadence Performance Coffee for a line of cold brew espresso shots infused with its animal-free lactoferrin powder, LF+. The ingredient – along with Perfect Day’s whey – will also be part of an immunity beverage and protein powder by Strive Nutrition.

Another partnership in this space saw Leprino Foods – the world’s largest mozzarella manufacturer – sign an exclusive licensing agreement to commercialise the precision-fermented casein produced by Dutch startup Fooditive Group.

And California’s The Every Company is working with another Dutch startup, The Vegetarian Butcher, which will use the former’s animal-free egg proteins to enhance its meat analogues. The Every Company has additionally co-launched Fermy, a line of ready-to-mix protein powders for coffee and matcha drinks, with vegan wellness company Landish Foods.