Half a billion people worldwide are either vegan or vegetarian, 26% of millennials have already embraced this lifestyle and 73% among them are willing to pay more for sustainable food and drinks, according to a Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) survey. NMI said the combination of these trends is giving the sale of oat drinks a boost, with an expected growth of 30% a year.
Alessandro Palumbo, market development manager at Novozymes, said, “A new market is opening up and booming. To help dairies and beverage producers expand their portfolio and create new types of oat drinks, we have developed a toolbox that can help them expand their business into this new territory.
“The fast-growing demand gives producers the opportunity to develop and market new types of oat drinks. But at the same time, it’s also a challenge to come up with products that match the consumer’s taste and preference.”
Novozymes said the new enzymatic toolbox it has developed is the first of its kind. It provides insights into how to use and combine enzymes, raw material and production parameters to adjust sweetness, mouthfeel and nutritional profile in oat drinks.
It also provides insights for producers into how to optimize the production process and save costs.
“The toolbox gives dairy and beverage producers the opportunity to develop the oat drinks consumers want. By teaming up with Novozymes, they will be able to select the flavor and nutritional profile of their drink, starting from a prototype and quickly scale it up using the perfect combination of enzymes, raw materials and equipment,” Palumbo said.
“This will help them to speed up the go-to-market process while reducing their risks related to new product development.”