Lawrence Moore, commercial director at Oato, believes that oat milk will continue to thrive despite a recent bout of negative press. In this opinion piece, he highlights oat milk's potential to keep the plant-based milk category booming and challenges some of the concerns raised about its health and sustainability credentials.

Certain corners of the UK press have opted to make the oat milk category the target of their ire of late, with often lazy, prosaic shouts of ‘overpriced’ or ‘unhealthy’. This generally offers up polarising criticism to a category which has been quite remarkable in terms of its growth in recent years and, contrary to some reports, is still in good order.

Plant-based dairy alternative drinks, as a whole, are performing pretty well in UK retail (+2.5%), and oat milk (+7.5%) remains the star attraction according to Kantar sales data. The much vaunted ‘backlash’ is certainly not evident in any sales numbers of late.

Nor is this reflected in category innovation – the plant-based milks arena goes from strength to strength when it comes to new ideas and oat milk is no exception. This is emblematic of how shoppers still delight in something genuinely different, with brands still highly active in product development.

Fortification has been evident in new SKUs appearing on UK supermarket shelves, as has its de facto opposite number – the minimum ingredient oat milk. Of course, it remains a matter of taste and usage for UK consumers, with most current research pointing to coffee and cereal as the main time to shine for oat milk. That’s one aspect of the category that is showing little change.

Innovation doesn’t stop there, either. Smaller pack formats have ready appeal for smaller households, and those comprising a mix of dairy fans and plant-based adopters.

If anything, the significant marketing investment from leading brands in the space and the backdrop of innovation has propelled the category further into the mainstream than ever. Kantar point to 35% of UK households consuming plant-based drinks. They can’t all be ‘millennial hipster coffee snobs’! Indeed, even in the most fashionable of coffee shops (where the oat milk latte once commanded a premium for the privilege of being plant-based), oat milk is generally now offered as a no-cost option, with the large (and arguably less trendy) coffee chains leading on the initiative.

This democratisation of plant-based can only be a good thing, potentially enticing flexitarians and those simply seeking something different, into the oat milk gang. Oat milk remains the king of dairy alternatives for coffee due to a subtle sweetness, smooth texture and a beautiful velvet microfoam, which can be artistically enhanced in the hands of a skilled barista.

So what of the ‘backlash’?

Sugars and high GI

There have been many criticisms of oat milk around the sugar content of oat milk vs some other plant-based milks. There is certainly some truth in this, albeit that the sugars are natural ones and offer desirable taste and texture for many, particularly in coffee. For those who want less, oat milk variants which are unsweetened or low-sugar are now manifold.

Environmental concerns

Water-use footprint of oat milk is often brought to the fore in pieces by those who seek to disparage. Inevitably, there is a counterpoint to this in terms of lower land use and greenhouse gas emissions. Solar power is a mainstay of certain oat milk brands and mitigation of environmental impact remains important for those in the industry.

Locally sourced ingredients are finding a place in the category, with British oats becoming a differentiator for some brands.

Tetra-Pak cartons are a source of consternation for many UK consumers, as kerbside recycling remains variable dependent upon geography, and these represent the majority of packs on shelf – though not all.

Nutritional value debate

Oat milk’s detractors would readily point to its nutritional profile being inferior to traditional dairy or other plant-based milks. For this reason, fortification remains as popular as ever, with vitamins and calcium featuring in many oat milks on shelf. The naturally occurring fibre content remains salient with many category shoppers.

Consumers aren’t always choosing oat milk for nutritional or dietary reasons. Oat remains a choice in a portfolio of options for many shoppers, even those who actively consume and often love dairy.

And the future?

The changing nature of the consumer is where the oat milk category will show resilience. It is no longer an ‘either/or’ for many people. It’s a choice, based upon taste, texture, diet, value, trend, veganism and plenty more besides.

That is to be embraced by category players. Dairy isn’t ‘the enemy’ – arguably, it never was for many category loyalists. We live in an age of unparalleled choice when it comes to our shopping – the category’s job is to embrace and expand that choice in the most appropriate and sustainable way we can, offering value and accessibility for as many consumers as possible.

Far from being yesterday’s news, oat milk remains very much part of the future FMCG landscape and will likely continue to become a shopped category for a widening audience – and that’s not an exaggeration!