A worker milks a cow at a cattle farm in Suining, located in China's Sichuan province, on October 9, 2007.
Breast milk cheese has got nothing on this one.
Chinese scientists are genetically modifying cows so that they’re producing “human breast milk” just outside of Beijing. Researchers at the China Agricultural University have introduced human genetic material into several cow embryos, which have then been transferred into cow surrogates.
(MORE: The Trend Continues: Breast-Milk Cheese on Display in New York)
According to Reuters, they managed to create a cow “that could produce milk with the same nutritional properties as human breast milk.” The milk is purported to be 80% identical to naturally-produced human breast milk, says the project’s lead director Li Ning.
Li went on to say that, “Our modified cow milk contains several major properties of human milk, in particular proteins and antibodies which we believe are good for our health and able to improve our immune system.”
The experiment involves more than 300 cows that reside on a farm on the outskirts of Beijing. The project, which is backed by a Chinese biotechnology company, wants to have some form of the milk on the market within the next three years.
(MORE: Things We Wish Didn’t Exist: Breast Milk Ice Cream Now Available)
But really, how does it taste? According to an anonymous source that will probably be veiled for the rest of eternity, it’s slightly “stronger and sweeter” than human breast milk. Hopefully that appeals to Little Jimmy when he’s breaking out his morning cereal.