Sometimes technological advances come about to answer the wrong question. But what happens when you ask the right question but technology is the wrong tool? You get Muufri. If you don’t feel comfortable drinking milk from a cow but do feel comfortable drinking milk that a few guys made in the lab on summer vacation, then Muufri is for you.
Here’s what Muufri and its makers, Ryan Pandya and Perumal Gandhi, got right. We have a huge industrial agricultural problem and one of its worst aspects is CAFOs-Confined Feeding Animal Operations—those “factory farms” where animal are crowded together in unsanitary and inhumane conditions, standing in their own urine and feces, waste that eventually moves on to pollute our waterways and contribute to climate change. Animals in CAFOs are cared for by underpaid workers who put their own physical and mental health at risk every day. This system needs to be changed and we need alternatives fast.
Now here are a few of the flaws in the proposed “animal-free milk” solution put forth by Muufri.