Development of Icelandic oat milk

Project title: Development of Icelandic oat milk

Partners: Sandhóll

Research Fund: Icelandic Food Innovation Fund (is. Matvælasjóður)

Initial year: 2021

Service Category:

Dairy products

Contact

Ólafur Reykdal

Project Manager

olafur.reykdal@matis.is

The project Development of Icelandic oat milk was funded by the Food Fund in 2021. The beneficiary was Sandhóll bú ehf, which was headed by Örn Karlsson. Work on product development, business planning and gathering information about devices was purchased from Matís ohf. Work on the project ended in March 2022.

After completing the product development process at Matís' laboratory, it was possible to produce an oat drink with satisfactory properties and taste in the opinion of Matís' employees. It was possible to achieve a taste quality comparable to that of common imported oat drinks on the market. The properties of rapeseed oil were also examined. Oats from Sandhólsbún turned out to be a sufficient raw material for the production. A business plan was put together for factory production of oat drink in Iceland.

The plans of Sandhól's family members are to start production of Icelandic oat drink. Oat drink made from Icelandic oats is a novelty in this country that greatly increases the value of domestic oat production and has a lower carbon footprint than imported oat drinks. The consumption of oat drinks has been increasing in Iceland, and this trend can be attributed to consumers' growing preference for plant-based products instead of animal products. It is likely that this trend will continue due to the intense debate on environmental issues.