Oat milk is a popular substitute for dairy, particularly among vegan, lactose-intolerant or health-conscious shoppers. The new farm is the product of Regina’s Mera Food Group, which has decades of experience creating vegetable protein and other substitutes to animal products. The company uses a process similar to fermentation to transform oats into an “earthy”, milk-like liquid.
Wayne Goranson, the CEO of Mera Food Group, praised the company’s innovation to CBC News:
"There's a bit of a herd mentality in a lot of industries, and people process beverages in a certain way and that's how it's been done for a hundred years. We like to look at it in a completely different way."
The milk will be accompanied by a series of products grown from the portfolio of grains native to the Prairies, including soy beverages. Vegetable-based beverages and mock meat, often with logo designs and advertising copy that suggest nature and health, have become increasingly popular as technological advances allow them to more closely resemble animal products.
Mera’s oat milk will begin production in Saskatchewan in May and June, and it will hit Co-op food store shelves in Regina and across the country during the summer.