SAN FRANCISCO — Nobell Foods, a maker of alternative dairy proteins, such as casein, is transitioning into a new master brand called Alpine Bio, The Biology Design Co. 

In a LinkedIn post, Nobell Foods founder and chief executive officer Magi Richani, said: “This change aligns better with our expanded capabilities and vision, reflecting our evolution from focusing solely on dairy proteins to becoming a leader in full spectrum biomanufacturing.”

Richani also shared that, going forward, Alpine Bio will spearhead the scale-up of its proprietary plant-based casein and drive the expansion of its ingredient pipeline, while Nobell Foods will become a unit within Alpine Bio focused on its mission of manufacturing animal-free cheese.

Nobell Foods also has received its 10th patent: “Recombinant Milk Proteins and Food Compositions Comprising the Same.” Titled US Patent No. 11,952,606, it is focused on dairy food compositions containing plant-expressed recombinant casein proteins.

“Cheese is one of the most loved foods in the modern diet, and yet it is one of the worst offenders in terms of its climate impact,” said Chris Rivest of Breakthrough Energy Ventures. “Magi and her team have developed a transformative way to produce dairy-identical proteins in plants to create stretchy, gooey, delicious cheese that consumers love, but made from plants — it is simply amazing.”

Alpine Bio is aiming to produce its first product of animal-free mozzarella cheese from Nobell Foods, which the company plans to launch for tastings in 2025.

“This patent not only advanced our development of plant grown casein and animal-free cheese, but also further strengthens our end-to-end platform for protein production,” Richani worte in her LinkedIn post. “This platform not only allows us to produce proteins, but also makes them functional, purifies them and enables their use as ingredients for end products.”