MINNEAPOLIS — General Mills, Inc. ceased supporting its Bold Cultr brand of animal-free dairy products. The company posted a statement on the Bold Cultr website saying it was closing its doors as of Feb. 27.

“Bold Cultr was a unique startup brand by G-Works, General Mills’ corporate venture studio, which deploys small teams to solve food-related consumer problems through innovation — testing and learning along the way,” the statement said. “G-Works regularly reviews its innovation portfolio and evaluates investment decisions. Recently, the difficult decision was made to deprioritize funding for Bold Cultr.”

Bold Cultr launched in November 2021. Its first product was a plain flavor cream cheese alternative made with milk proteins created through precision fermentation. The product featured non-animal whey protein from ingredient supplier Perfect Day, plus pea protein, palm oil, cultures, starches and gums.

“The innovations coming out of our G-Works teams are an example of General Mills truly thinking differently about how we innovate,” said Doug Martin, chief brand and disruptive growth officer at General Mills at the time of the launch. “It starts with solving real consumer problems, developing breakthrough solutions — and then fueling those brands using the scale and capabilities of General Mills to accelerate their growth. This first product from Bold Cultr is proof positive that we’re finding new ways to test and learn outside of our core portfolio and in a white space of the food industry.”

The target audience for Bold Cultr was consumers looking for cheese alternatives that have the same taste and texture as dairy but without animal-based ingredients. Other companies selling animal-free dairy products include Betterland milk, California Performance Co., Co2coa from Mars, Inc., Graeter’s ice cream, Juiceland, Natreve, Nick’s ice cream, Nurishh cream cheese and Villa Dolce gelato.