Tailoring starter cultures for plant based dairy alternatives across two diverse regions

In this collaborative Two-PhD project between University of Queensland and DTU we aim at developing new and better adapted starter cultures (a combination of specific microorganisms) tailored for plant-based, dairy alternative, fermented products such as soy, almond, oat, and rice milk. These new starter cultures are better at fermenting plant-based products compared to conventional milkbased starter cultures, since they have been designed for dairy and used for production of yogurt, cheese and sour cream for centuries. Furthermore, the starter cultures should be tailor made for the specific conditions and crops in the two regions (Australia and Scandinavia).