Li Ka-shing-backed start-up Perfect Day launches Asia’s first animal-free dairy ice cream in Hong Kong

Name: Chinese start-up launches plant-based meat as coronavirus fuels healthy eating trend
Uploaded: 2021-01-26T12:00:42.000Z
Duration: 3 min 9 s
Description: Chinese start-up launches plant-based meat as coronavirus fuels healthy eating trend

Perfect Day partners with Hong Kong’s Igloo Dessert Bar to launch vegan ice cream that uses whey protein developed by fermentation instead of animal protein

San Francisco-based Perfect Day has already partnered with several American brands to commercialise the non-animal protein in vegan ice creams

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Perfect Day has partnered with Hong Kong’s Igloo Dessert Bar to launch ‘Ice Age!’, an animal-free dairy ice cream. Photo: Handout

Jack Lau

Published: 8:00pm, 26 Jan 2021Updated: 8:00pm, 26 Jan 2021

US-based food technology company Perfect Day, backed by Li Ka-shing’s Horizons Ventures, has partnered with a Hong Kong ice cream maker to launch an animal-free dairy variety of the dessert, the first time such a product has been launched in Asia, the venture capital firm said on Tuesday.

Horizons and Perfect Day partnered with Hong Kong’s Igloo Dessert Bar to launch the “Ice Age!” range of ice creams that uses whey protein developed by fermentation from the gene sequence of bovine whey protein.

The resulting whey protein is identical at the molecular level to the dairy protein found in cow milk, according to Perfect Day. No animal product is used in the manufacturing process, it added.

San Francisco-based Perfect Day has already partnered with several American ice cream brands, such as Nick’s Ice Cream, Graeter’s and Brave Robot, to commercialise the non-animal protein in vegan ice creams.

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Chinese start-up launches plant-based meat as coronavirus fuels healthy eating trend

The global vegan ice cream market will reach US$805.3 million by 2027, according to an Allied Market Research report published in June last year.

While Europe is the leading regional market for vegan ice cream in 2019, the Asia-Pacific accounted for more than two-fifths of the global vegan ice cream market in 2018, and is expected to grow faster than Europe between 2020 and 2027 at a compound annual growth rate of 14.5 per cent, the report said.