Evaluation of Marketplace Mozzarella Plant-Based Cheeses and Gap Assessment with Current Mozzarella Dairy Cheese

Abstract

This thesis evaluated commercially available plant-based mozzarella cheeses in the United States. I examined the gap between non-dairy and conventional products in terms of environmental impact and functional performance. This comparison was important because dairy mozzarella has a relatively high carbon footprint, while plantbased alternatives must still provide the meltability and stretchability expected in pizza and other baked applications. Addressing this gap is essential, as sustainable alternatives must deliver both environmental benefits and the functional attributes required for their intended applications. Furthermore, environmentally preferable alternatives are unlikely to achieve broad adoption unless they also meet application-specific performance requirements. Two primary dimensions were assessed: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and cheese meltability and stretchability. Five commercially available plant-based mozzarella cheeses and one conventional dairy mozzarella reference were evaluated. Cradle-to-gate GHG emissions were quantified per kg of cheese using an ingredient-level life cycle assessment, with background inventory data obtained from Earthster and Ecoinvent. Dairy mozzarella was assessed using both an ingredient-based model and carbon footprint data from the World Food Life Cycle Assessment Database (WFLDB). Meltability and stretchability were evaluated under controlled heating conditions using the Schreiber melt test and an adapted fork and manual stretch test. In addition, I used SAP Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) to model hybrid pizza formulations containing 5%–30% plant-based cheese substitutions and evaluated data quality and uncertainty using a pedigree matrix approach. The findings revealed a pronounced divergence between these evaluation criteria. Plant-based mozzarella cheeses consistently outperformed dairy mozzarella in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, with cradle-to-gate impacts ranging from 0.871 to 2.211 kg CO₂eq/kg, compared with 10.96 kg CO₂eq/kg for the WFLDB dairy reference and 17.56 kg CO₂eq/kg for the ingredient-based dairy model. However, plant-based mozzarella cheeses exhibited minimal to no melting at 90°C and only partial melting, oil release, and surface browning at 150°C, with no measurable stretchability observed under the test conditions. These results highlight a substantial functional gap between commercially available plant-based and conventional dairy mozzarella cheese. Hybrid formulations were developed by partially substituting dairy mozzarella with plant-based alternatives within a standardized pizza recipe. Plant-based mozzarella demonstrated substantially lower GHG emissions than dairy cheese across all substitution scenarios. Plant-based substitution reduced pizza carbon footprints by 2.3%–2.6% at a 5% substitution and 13.4%–15.4% at 30% substitution, with higher substitution levels producing progressively greater environmental benefits. The results of this thesis demonstrate a clear trade-off between environmental impact and functional performance, highlighting a critical gap in product development.