• by Steve Ellwanger , March 1, 2023

General Mills is discontinuing dairy-free cream cheese Bold Cultr less than a month after expanding the brand’s initial retail distribution in Minnesota and launching a D2C website for sales in 48 states.

When General Mills announced the fall 2021 launch of Bold Cultr—which was laboratory-produced using whey protein from microbes as opposed to cows—the company described the product as “one of the world’s first next generation cheese alternatives.”

It was a collaboration between the G-Works corporate venture studio of General Mills and California-based Perfect Day, which was replaced recently by Israeli startup Remilk.

Late last month, a note at the top of the Bold Cultr website stated “Dear fans and customers, with a heavy heart, we want to let you know that we are closing our doors starting February 27, 2023.

“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 made its retail debut in Hy-Vee stores in Minnesota.

When Bold Cultr cream cheese launched, General Mills said it also was developing “cheese alternative slices and shreds,” but "Bold Cultr is closing its doors, not just the cream cheese alternative product," according to a company rep.

As previously reported, Bel Brands just launched Nurishh Incredible Dairy—a cream cheese spread alternative that contains real dairy protein not derived from cows—in a partnership with Perfect Day.

Other recent animal-free dairy launches include Cowabunga milk from Nestlé and CO2Coa chocolate bars from Mars Wrigley.

Last November, Unilever said it was working on a cow-free ice cream produced with precision fermentation that uses substances like yeast and fungi to produce milk proteins.

The discontinuance of Bold Cultr was first reported by AgFunder News.