MOMA Foods is working with scientists from Teesside University’s National Horizons Centre on ‘cutting-edge research’ to optimize its oat milk’s taste and sustainability and explore the potential for new lines.
To this end, MOMA is helping fund a PhD studentship to work alongside Professor John Young from the centre in developing new methods of testing the quality of oat milk and will also work with suppliers to optimize ingredients and look at ways of developing new strains of enzymes to break down the oats.
MOMA was originally supported in the creation of its oat milk through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) carried out in conjunction with Portsmouth and Teesside Universities and part-funded by Innovate UK.
it’s vitally important that we bring academic knowledge into the industry … and working with Teesside University will help us to achieve this
“Oat milk has the potential to be an incredibly sustainable alternative to dairy products; helping cut greenhouse gas emissions by reducing methane from dairy herds and using ingredients which can be easily grown in this country,” comments brand founder Tom Mercer.
“However, it’s still a nascent industry and we want to be at the forefront of knowledge and work with our farmers and suppliers to understand exactly what delivers the best product. To do this it’s vitally important that we bring academic knowledge into the industry and don’t operate in a silo, and working with Teesside University will help us to achieve this.”
Adds Professor Young: “At Teesside University, a key pillar of our research strategy is forging a smarter, greener economy through novel and disruptive technologies … “We’re really excited about this next stage of our partnership and working with MOMA to explore the possibilities for this product.”
