Will oats become the king of plant milk?

April 7, 2020 / / - Almonds, soy, coconut, skimmed or full fat? Shops offer dazzling milk, but a new option is experiencing unprecedented growth and is fast becoming a vegetarian favorite - oat milk.
five years ago, the oat milk market was virtually non-existent, but sales of the non-dairy drink surged 222 per cent in the 12 months to April 2019, according to the Good Food Institute.
in recent months, Starbucks, US yogurt giant Chobani and Nestle Instant Coffee have all started offering oat milk, known for their nutritional and environmental benefits.
, food reporter at research firm GlobalData, said: "Oat milk seems to be very popular, especially in the US, where there are no other plant milks.
2016, Sweden's world leader, Oatly, pioneered the U.S. market, offering oat milk in coffee shops, cappuccinos and lattes.
is a very clever marketing strategy," says Coyne, a marketing manager.
it became a word-of-mouth phenomenon, and its popularity grew from there.
sales account for just over 1 per cent of US almond milk sales, according to data compiled by the Good Food Institute.
Good Food Institute promotes plant-based alternatives to meat, dairy products and eggs.
Oat Milk expects its products to catch up soon and says it has an advantage over its competitors in terms of taste.
is great, but it tastes a lot like almonds, " says Peter Truby, chief marketing officer at Elmhurst, an American oat milk producer.
What if you don't want to add almond flavor to your coffee and just want something creamy to match the coffee without making it taste too heavy? "Although oats have a very ordinary person's image, Oatly has successfully positioned oat milk as a high-end product, first established in the coffee market.
now it's everywhere on supermarket shelves.
environmental benefits to Mike Messersmith, president of Oatly Catering Group in North America, oat milk has two other advantages besides taste, which fit well with the rise of veganism.
First, it has nutritional properties: low in calories, rich in fiber, and contains more protein than other grains, unlike soy or almonds, which rarely cause allergies: second, it "minimizes the impact on our natural resources."
according to a 2018 study published in the journal Science, it takes 15 times and 8 times as much water to produce milk as almond milk, respectively.
is becoming an important selling point, and that clearly resonates with consumers," says Coyne, a food journalist.
Otley sent some of its residue to a mushroom farm for soil, and Elmhurst claims it produces almost no residue.
advantage of oat milk over its competitors is that production costs are about a third lower than almonds.
opened its first U.S. plant in New Jersey in 2019 and plans to open another in Ogden, Utah, this summer.
other companies include Planet Oat Pacific Foods, Califia Farms and French giant Danone, which bought White Wave Foods for $12.5bn in 2016.
think it's going to take a few years because almond milk has been dominant for a long time," he said.
but like almond milk over soy milk, I really think oat milk will be the leader.
" () Reference: Will oat become the king of plant-based milks?