Animal-Free Dairy Company New Culture Welcomes New VP of Process Development and Engineering
New Culture, the Bay Area, CA-based animal-free dairy company combining precision fermentation with traditional cheesemaking, has announced that Binita Bhattacharjee, PhD, has joined the company as Vice President of Process Development and Engineering. New Culture is leading the global movement to an animal-free dairy future with products that are indistinguishable from conventional products in taste, texture, function and nutritional content.
In this role, Bhattacharjee will lead New Culture’s fermentation and downstream processing teams and external co-manufacturing and research partners to develop the company’s production capacity for commercialization. This is a critical leadership role as New Culture works to scale-up and accelerate time to market for its first product, animal-free mozzarella that stretches, melts and tastes like the real deal.
“Binita is a world-class engineer, scientist and leader with deep experience harnessing bioprocess to produce innovative, sustainable products,” said Inja Radman, PhD, Co-founder and Chief Science Officer of New Culture. “By adding her to the helm of our impressive fermentation and downstream process development teams, we are one step closer to bringing New Culture mozzarella to market.”
Bhattacharjee is a seasoned process technology leader with more than 15 years of post-PhD experience across technology evaluation, process development, techno-economic modeling, logistics and engineering functions. Prior to joining New Culture, Bhattacharjee was Sr. Director of Process Development at the pioneering biotech company Amyris, where she was responsible for process development, piloting and tech transfer with partners worldwide. Her experience includes leading teams to produce sustainable products across health & wellness, flavors & fragrances, biofuels and aromatics. She holds a PhD and MS from MIT and a BS from Berkeley in chemical engineering.
“New Culture is revolutionizing the dairy industry with its use of precision fermentation and I am thrilled to be a part of the team’s important mission,” said Bhattacharjee. “After almost a decade at Amyris, I’m eager to dive into this exciting next step with New Culture to bring delicious, sustainable dairy products to the market.”
By producing casein – the key dairy protein that makes cheese cheesy – without any animal inputs, New Culture is making the first animal-free cheese that stretches, melts and bubbles like conventional cheese. Their animal-free mozzarella has been savored by chefs and industry experts on artisan pizzas made in 850° wood-fired ovens and 400° home ovens alike. While other animal-free brands rely on starches, soy and nuts, New Culture is forging a new path by combining traditional cheesemaking, fermentation and food science to bring about a sustainable, delicious, new culture for the world of dairy.
New Culture is backed by world-class investors including Kraft Heinz’s Evolv Ventures, ADM Ventures, S2G Ventures, Mayfield, CPT Capital, Ahren Innovation Capital and Future Ventures. Their cheese will be available in select dining experiences in 2023.