Disrupting alt milk with oat powder: ‘By cutting packaging rupture and transport miles, we promote a sustainable manner of ingesting milk’
Dairy picks dangle gone from strength to strength in newest years. In step with Market Seek Document, the world market used to be valued at $19.2bn in 2019. The market analysts predict a y-o-y progress price of 11.4% until 2027.
A key driver of their uptake concerns the sustainability of oat, almond, soy, rice, and coconut milk picks, amongst others, in comparison with cow’s milk. Researchers estimate that one glass of dairy milk is accountable for three cases as many greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in comparison with dairy-free picks. Plant-basically basically based drinks on this design additionally employ very much much less land and water.
But is there a device for plant-basically basically based drinks to be great extra sustainable? German entrepreneur Philip von Accept as true with and his co-founder Katia Helf think they has chanced on a device. This newest project, centred around oat milk, cuts packaging rupture and transport emissions, von Accept as true with urged FoodNavigator: “We are selling a sustainable manner of ingesting milk.”
Shake it ‘til you manufacture it
Von Accept as true with labored in coffee sooner than turning his hand to alt milk. The entrepreneur recalled how his coffee purchasers wished him to diversify into milk distribution. “We tried to bring milk,” he recounted. “But from an operations standpoint, it used to be so stressful to dangle litres and tonnes of liquid that it is wanted to transport around.”
At the equivalent time, von Accept as true with’s purchasers had been complaining about having to obtain rid of tons of of Tetra Pak cartons each and a week. “I needed to decrease the complexity of logistics whereas additionally lowering packaging rupture,” he urged this e-newsletter.
Blue Farm’s oat powder is designed to manufacture right that. Sold in flexible packaging, a 375g packet of oat unfriendly makes up to four litres of oat milk, and a 775g packet makes up to eight litres.
It arrives within the letterbox, patrons dose out the powder into a bottle, add water, and shake for 5 to 10 seconds ‘to construct a recent and creamy oat milk’.
For von Accept as true with, the sustainability advantages are obvious. “Now we dangle much less packaging rupture and fewer transport emissions, on legend of we’re no longer transport litres of water from A to B to C.”
Having bustle the numbers, Blue Farm can verify its product saves extra than 80% packaging rupture. The packaging saved, clearly, additionally has a neighborhood climate footprint, “so we additionally save on CO₂ there,” the CEO explained. The commence up-up estimates it saves shut to 70% on transport costs thanks to design and weight efficiencies.
But does it employ much less water total?
Whether Blue Farm saves on water total is a reasonably extra complex quiz, on condition that some water is susceptible within the production of the oat unfriendly, then dried off, sooner than being added again by the user.
Producing Blue Farm’s oat unfriendly is a multi-step job. To commence up with, the oats are jumbled along with water and enzymes to kickstart a fermentation job. This helps execute the sweet, silky, and creamy attributes within the completed product, the CEO explained. “There’s a particular cooling and heating job to manipulate the exercise of those enzymes in a clear manner.”
This job produces a ‘extremely concentrated oat slurry’, which is then dried so that you can allow for easy mixing later on – ‘here is the magic within the draw’, stated von Accept as true with. “It device that the particles dry and combine in a particular manner for the duration of the drying job, that as soon as you occur to add water, there are no chunks. Moderately, it dissolves simply.”
Overall, the draw is ‘no longer great extra water efficient’ than other oat milks. “But we manufacture work with much less water within the production job. To fabricate one litre of oat milk, yet any other company would employ one litre of water within the draw,” the founder explained. “And we employ about 250-300ml max. Obviously water is then added later by the client. What is inviting, is that we don’t ship the water around.”
Nutrition: ‘It’s extra about what we omit’
In long-established, the dietary profile of oat milk is ‘supreme’, but ‘no longer spectacular’, explained von Accept as true with. Whereas Blue Farm’s oat offering is no varied (per 100ml oat drink, the product contains 0.65g protein, 1.33g sugar, 0.06g fibre, 0.48g elephantine, and 0.02g salt), the founder wired it is miles what’s no longer on the ingredients checklist that counts.
Whereas oat milk competitor products might maybe well maybe also simply like vegetable oils and stabilisers, Blue Farm’s first product contains right oats and salt. “The advantages are extra about what we omit, in preference to what’s in it. We don’t have to add any preservatives, no stabilisers, no binders, gums, or fillers. There are no hidden sugars, and right a in actuality small amount of salt,” we had been urged. “So all that positively makes our product extra healthy.”
As Blue Farm expands its fluctuate, it expects its ingredients checklist will develop – with nutrition in mind. “Currently we ideal dangle one product in-retailer, but we are within the draw of constructing extra milks which might maybe well per chance be fortified or enriched with supplements we think our possibilities are missing.”
Von Accept as true with continued: “We’d like to make many extra products which might maybe well per chance be complementary to our milk that red meat up the nutrition and health of our possibilities.”
The commence up-up additionally believes its product is brisker than that of its opponents, which von Accept as true with says might maybe well maybe also simply dangle sit down within the grocery store ‘for months’. “The microbiology is re-activated as presently as water is added to the powder, so we disclose the milk is sort of as recent as precise recent oat milk – it is miles de facto made in a one 2d as soon as you occur to add the water.”
Commercialisation approach
Blue Farm identifies before every thing as a command-to-user (D2C) tag. Nonetheless, being in powder structure opens up reasonably about a distribution opportunities.
The company ‘sees capacity’ in retail, and has rolled out its product into zero rupture stores in Germany. Blue Farm will additionally inquire to accomplice with specialised on-line retailers.
Foodservice is yet any other channel on the commence up-up’s radar. “Once gastronomy opens, that will be a vast disclose for us. The gastronomy advantages are very obvious – a good deal of cafes fable struggles with storage, and our product saves 80% storage. Some dangle already requested to be factors of sale. But for the 2d, it’s mostly D2C. We are announcing we are ‘bringing the milkman support’.”
Price-inviting, Blue Farm’s product sits for the duration of the highest price oat milk fluctuate. One litre of oat milk works out at €2.19, which von Accept as true with stated places it within the equivalent bracket as Oatly. At the equivalent time, he wired it is miles a high quality product, with oats sourced from Germany, the place it is miles additionally produced. Extra savings is also made by purchasing in bulk, or by purchasing a month-to-month subscription.
Having officially launched right closing month, Blue Farm has already got rave critiques, we had been urged. Patrons fable the product no longer ideal mixes smartly with hot drinks, but has supreme foaming properties.
Shifting forward, the commence up-up is taking a inquire to lift an investment spherical within the summertime, which this might maybe well maybe employ to expand its product portfolio and lengthen its presence beyond Germany. With out giving too great away, von Accept as true with stated he has his obtain out about on three markets internal Europe. “We opinion to commence there within the summertime.”