海角直播

Helping develop sustainable dairy alternatives

MOMA Foods, one of the United Kingdom鈥檚 foremost producers of oat milk, is working with 海角直播 to ensure its products lead the way on taste and sustainability.

The company is working with scientists from 海角直播鈥檚 National Horizons Centre on cutting-edge research to optimise its oat milk and explore the potential for new product lines. To achieve this, MOMA is helping fund a PhD studentship to work alongside Professor John S. Young from the National Horizons Centre, 海角直播鈥檚 national centre of excellence for bioscience.

The project aims to develop new methods of testing the quality of oat milk on site through the development of a new monitoring tool which will analyse fat and protein content.

It will also work with suppliers to optimise ingredients and look at ways of developing new strains of enzymes to break down the oats.

MOMA was founded by Tom Mercer in 2006, initially selling breakfast pots from a converted filing cabinet in Waterloo Station.

Since then, it has grown rapidly to become one of the UK鈥檚 fastest growing health food brands and in 2020 launched its first range of oat milk which is stocked by a number of leading supermarkets.

MOMA was supported in the development of the oat milk range thanks to a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) carried out in conjunction with Portsmouth and 海角直播 Universities.

This project, part-funded by Innovate UK, saw academics work with MOMA to develop its oat milk; helping to refine ingredients to ensure the right combination of enzymes were being used to break down the starch in the oats and result in a product that was foamable and did not split when added to hot liquid.

As a result of the successful partnership, oat milk has now overtaken porridge as MOMA鈥檚 core product.

The milk has also received several plaudits including a Great Taste Award and ranks the highest for flavour compared to its competitors on Amazon.

The company now hopes to continue this successful partnership through the PhD studentship with 海角直播.

Tom Mercer said: 鈥淧rior to embarking on the KTP we鈥檇 never really used an external resource.

鈥淗owever, by working with a university we were able to gain that depth of academic knowledge, helping to understand on a molecular level what it was we are trying to achieve.

鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping to take this even further though the PhD.

鈥淥at 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.

鈥淗owever, it鈥檚 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.

鈥淭o do this it鈥檚 vitally important that we bring academic knowledge into the industry and don鈥檛 operate in a silo and working with 海角直播 will help us to achieve this.鈥�

Professor Young added: 鈥淎t 海角直播, a key pillar of our research strategy is forging a smarter, greener economy through novel and disruptive technologies.

鈥淥ur ongoing relationship with MOMA has already delivered real impact by helping the company develop an innovative product which is not only creating jobs and new markets for the business but could have a real impact in reducing global emissions.

鈥淲e鈥檙e really excited about this next stage of our partnership and working with MOMA to explore the possibilities for this product.鈥�

Apply for the PhD studentship