Irish Oats - The Perfect Plant-Based Solution
23 Mar 2022 | Glanbia Ireland Ingredients
Glanbia Ireland, while known for being a dairy company, has a long history in grains and cereals with their extensive Irish oat portfolio. During this webinar they will take you on our oat journey demonstrating how Irish oats are the perfect plant-based solution for all your application needs.
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Hello and welcome to today's webinar hosted by Food Ingredients First and sponsored by Glanbia Ireland.
My name is Yvonne Blanti, product manager for plant ingredients at Glanbia Ireland, and I will be today's moderator.
The webinar is entitled Irish Oats The Perfect Plant Based Solution.
Throughout this webinar, we will explain the long history that Glanbia Ireland has in the growing of Irish oats and how the inherent goodness of these Irish oats means they are the perfect solution for use in plant-based cereals, snacks, bakery, and many, many more applications.
We have an extensive range of oat flakes and flowers, including organic and gluten-free, which can be used in a range of solutions and applications to deliver great tasting, highly functional and nutritious products.
We use a range of methods to produce our best in class and high quality ingredients and are supported by the long standing relationships we have with our local growers.
Throughout this webinar, I will be joined by my Glamre Ireland colleagues.
Maria O'Toole, Quality operations manager for grains, will talk to you about our long heritage and quality grains, our choice of specific grain varieties, and our evolution from an agri trader to a specialty business.
Avril Collins, marketing manager, will provide insight into the growth in the plant-based trend and show how this trend has had a significant impact on the supermarket shelves.
Our R&D expert Ashwini Shiva, senior technologist, will demonstrate the use of our oat flakes in application.
She will also explain the benefits of our oat flowers and demonstrate their functionality.
Our R&D expert Aoife Joyce, senior technologist, will demonstrate the use of our wood flour in application.
Gary Sheehan, plant portfolio manager, will then talk to you about our new range of plant-based cheese alternatives which were launched in December 2021.
And finally, Tom Finlay, head of strategic alliances and of the Plant hub, will talk to you about our unique growing environment and our processing and innovation capabilities.
I would like to note that there will be a Q&A with our speakers at the end of the webinar.
If you have any questions throughout the webinar, please type them into the questions tab, and we will respond to you directly.
This webinar will also be available on demand on food ingredientsfirst.com.
The link will be sent to you after the session concludes.
I hope you enjoyed the webinar and I will now hand you over to Maria.
Thank you, Yvonne.
Hello, my name is Maria O'Toole and I am the quality operations manager for grains at Lombia Ireland.
We have been growing and processing quality grains since the early 1900s.
Growing grains has been an integral part of the business, both for the supplementation of forage crops and human consumption.
Over time we have evolved from being a business trader to a more specialized business, constantly innovating to respond to consumer and customer demand.
We grow 3 varieties of oats that resemble each other.
These varieties are chosen for their yields, disease resistance, and hardiness, as as for their taste and texture, golden color and plump seed and grain.
Every batch of our old products provides consistency in visual appearance of the end product and consistent cooking times.
Our autoagronomy is a year-round activity and our tillage specialists travel to farms to provide 1 to 1 support and advice to our select team of farmers on their lands to select, test, monitor and harvest the seed.
Today we are joined by tillage farmer James Ashmore from Mullamast in County Kildare.
Hi Maria, how are you?
Welcome, James.
Very good, thank you.
So James, just a, a bit of background on, on, you as a Glanbia Ireland grower.
How long have you been a grower or an oak grower even for Glanbia Ireland?
I've been growing oats for Glanbia, since I started farming in autumn 2013.
I was a first year when my father handed over the farm to me.
We were originally going, oats for Glanbia anyway for food production, but, in I think 2 vest 2013 was Glanbia's first year in gluten-free oats.
We didn't try it that year.
We said we'd hang back and see what was happening first, but then, yeah, my first harvest was 2014.
We tried it and, worked out pretty.
Very good.
You're growing gluten-free since then.
Since then, yeah, very good, very good.
And what's your crop rotation on the farm, James?
Yeah, we're mixed farming as , so we've got cattle at home as , winter finishing and sheep.
So we'd have in our tillage rotation, we do short term lay, so 3 years grass.
And we'd have maize, winter wheat, winter barley, peas, gluten-free oats, and then we'd also be cover cropping as.
And recently we've switched from kind of plow 11 pass establishment system into direct drilling.
So that'd be kind of our rotation, but we, it's not set in stone.
We do mix and match, but, we try, that's sort of our blueprint.
Very good, very good.
And you say you've adapted or it sounds like you've adapted.
So some of this, these changes and you've incurred on the farm, have they been brought about by growing gluten-free on the farm?
Have you learned from Your experience with growing gluten-free.
Yeah, I suppose with gluten-free, the main thing is you have a break crop in before.
So kind of when you are sitting down to do your, your plan for where your crops are going, that'd be kind of your main one that you would stick a pin and go, there's certain criteria around that.
I need to have my break crop before it.
So I need to work where I'm, where what's going into which field and where.
But , I suppose like anyone, you kind of start with what your most valuable crops are, figure out where they're going, and then move from there.
Very good, very good.
So it's a welcome addition on your farm.
So what are the key attributes for growing gluten-free and selecting the, the correct field or ground for growing the gluten-free?
I suppose most farmers know their fields better than anyone else, so they know the history of their fields, what, what's going on in it, whether they've got weed burdens here or they've got patches that aren't so good.
But I suppose for most farmers start at the beginning, look at what your soil samples are telling you, what you've got deficient in, what you're excessive in, and then plan from there.
You can make your amendments to, suit the crop as much as you can.
Need to pay particular attention to your weed burdens as you, as you know, from time of wild oats, so I've become quite proficient at roguing wild oats now at this stage, but, you learn as you go, and I suppose same with Glanbia when they started, it was a learning process.
So it's same for farmers, but If you're ever in doubt, talk to other farmers and you find out more than anyone.
Very good.
That's right.
So what are the benefits for you in your experience over the years for having gluten-free in your tillage farm and on your rotation?
It's a, it's a different species, so you're helping feed biology with different nutrients and exudates coming out of your roots so that helps your bacteria, your fungi, your microorganisms, helps feed them again, it's a premium product, so you're getting a premium price so financially it makes sense kind of before I came here just roughly doing figures in the head.
Like we'd average sort of 3.6 tons to the acre on gluten-free oats, but with the year that's in it now with the high prices of nitrogen and stuff comparing that to a first wheat which will go in after a break crop, we'd have to be getting the equivalent of 4.9 tons the acre off of 170 units of nitrogen, which is not going to happen, so.
It makes financial sense and then of course you've got the the added benefits of you come you harvest it for us so that's a saving of whatever 50-60 euros an acre and then of course the transport from Harris's so makes life a lot easier.
Don't have to worry about clean sheds, machinery where I'm putting my trailers.
Am I'm going to be stuck in a queue with my loads of grain going in so.
Makes life a lot easier.
Very good.
Very good.
So it's all positive, really, generally, yeah, very good.
And obviously with the old secure supply chain, there's a lot of stringent measures, that we have to ensure that each step of our supply chain is gluten-free standard and we're eliminating the risk of contamination.
So there are, parts of the growing season where you'd see us more often.
Can you just, Enlighten other growers and and the wider community on those areas.
So when we inspect the crop and when we do our mapping in the fields.
Yeah, so kind of, April, May is generally when you'd first be appearing, but we kind of at that stage we're already in kind of getting in maybe first fungicide or trace elements or that.
So you'd be kind of keeping an eye out for any early signs and obviously walking your crops checking if there is any gluten contamination, but Kind of as the season progresses, especially towards the end of May, you start to see like barley, for example, you'll see the head, it'll be a different color.
You can see it from 20 m away from the cabinet tractor, so, you know, clean that over.
Then if there is a, after your initial inspection, if there is an issue, say wild oats, and then that can be addressed, to have it rolled over by, harvest time.
So generally by sort of mid to late June.
Wild oats are sticking out above the canopy, so they're easier to spot and proroguing.
And if you've got a significant burden, get help and get, get them out of it because it's important to have a clean sample and make sure it passes because it's it's worth it.
That's it.
That's it.
Very good.
James, thanks for your time today.
We appreciate it and delighted to hear that gluten-free is working on your farm.
Thanks Maria.
Our oats portfolio consists of conventional, organic and gluten-free Irish oats.
All formats of our oats are 100% whole grain and golden in color and have a clean oaty flavor and aroma.
All our oat flakes have an 18-month shelf life due to our unique heat treatment.
Growths are the hulled kernels of oat, ready for food use but without being further milled.
They are whole and include the cereal germ, the bran, and the endosperm of the grain.
Groats can be used as ingredients in food processing and as a thick textural addition to a wide range of products such as soups and breads.
They are very nutritious and often require soaking prior to cooking.
Steel cut oats are oat growths cut into 2 to 3 pieces.
These oats require a gentle cook for 30 minutes on the hob.
When cooked, steel cut oats give a deliciously nutty and rich texture and are suitable for porridge, hot breakfast cereals, bakery, and black pudding.
Shredded oats are made by steaming de-hulled oak growths and then cutting them into very small pieces with a roll cutter.
As a result, they require less cooking time, and will cook in 5 to 7 minutes on the hob.
They are suitable for use in applications such as bars, hot breakfast cereals, bakery, cookie mixes and product toppings.
Jumbo oat flakes, as their name suggests, are the largest variety of whole grain flaked oat.
Jumbo oats will provide your finished product with clear oat definition, and will be slow to absorb moisture when compared with smaller flakes.
They will cook in 3 to 5 minutes on the hob and 3 minutes in the microwave.
They are used for traditional thick porridge with distinct oat definition.
More recently, the jumbo oat has become the oat of choice to produce granola and crunchy style clustered products, providing a firm, crunchy texture.
These flakes are also suitable for use in dry snack mixes, bars, bakery, and yogurt or dairy product toppings.
Quick-cooking oats are steel cut oats that have been steamed and flaked.
The smaller flakes allow for a quicker cooking time.
They have consistent flake size and high water absorption, which makes them perfect for quick cooking.
They will cook in 2 to 3 minutes.
I hope this has given you a good overview of our old journey, including our extensive agronomy program and our old portfolio.
I will now pass you over to Ashwini Shivara, who will demonstrate the use of our oat flakes in applications.
Hello, my name is Ashwini, senior technologist at Glanbia Ireland, and it is my pleasure to be here with you today.
As we all know, oats are an excellent source of nutrition, as they naturally contain between 11 to 13% proteins and are high in soluble fibers, especially beta glucan, which can help to reduce and lower cholesterol.
They are low in sugar, salt and saturated fat.
Oats also contain a range of minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc.
As Maria mentioned earlier, there are many aspects to consider when choosing oat flakes for your granola, muesli, and flapjack applications.
Specifically, the three properties to consider are physical properties, sensorial properties, and shelf life.
Physical properties of oat flakes are the appearance, the flake thickness, and the flake integrity.
Our oats are bigger and plumper than other oats due to Ireland's temperate climate with plenty of rainfall.
Our oats are also more golden in color than most other oats, which delivers an excellent appearance in the final product.
Finally, our oats are more uniform, which delivers a visual consistency in the final product.
This consistency also provides a better yield, which in turn delivers a lower carbon footprint.
The physical properties are essential when selecting oat flakes for creating the perfect granola or flapjack.
Flakes used in the preparation of muesli, granola, and flapjacks should retain their integrity.
By this they should not release too much flour, which will settle at the bottom of muesli pack.
In addition, they should not break up when mixed with other ingredients in the manufacture of granola and flapjacks.
Let me show you what.
When I break apart this flapjack, you can see that the flake has retained its integrity.
It is a whole flake of good size and shape.
Similarly, with the granola, the oat flake has remained intact and also has a nice even color after baking.
And as you can see with this muesli, there is very little, almost no flour at the bottom of the bowl.
As as maintaining its integrity, the flake should be soft enough for enjoyable eating.
It should also be a good size, not too thick or too thin.
The flake size will affect the cooking time when manufacturing flapjacks and granola.
And also the way the product eats.
Sensory properties are important for providing a pleasurable eating experience.
Texture is an important sensorial characteristic for oats when used in muesli, granola, or flapjacks.
If a lot of force is needed when chewing, or if the oat flakes stick to the teeth, it can create an unpleasant eating experience.
Glanbia oats are milled to a variety of sizes to ensure optimum eating pleasure.
When it comes to shelf life, moisture content is the most critical factor.
The use of proper packaging in the supply of oats is very important to prevent changes in the moisture content and maintain the integrity of the flake over its shelf life.
Glanbia Island oat flakes have quality processes in place to ensure high quality products for customers.
At Glanbia Island, we have a complete traceability of the oat supply chain, all the way from the seed through to the consumer.
We are unique in that we are the only oats supplier globally with ownership of all stages of the supply chain.
Before I conclude this section, I would like to talk about how our organic and gluten-free oats differ from conventional oats.
Our organic oats are organically grown in Ireland without any synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers.
Glanbia Ireland oats are naturally gluten free due to its controlled supply chain.
Our gluten free integrity is achieved due to the Glanbia developed closed loop supply chain system called Oat Secure.
Our identity represents the protection that comes with each stage in our unique 14-step process.
Both secure encompasses seed development, land and grower selection, sowing, crop monitoring, harvesting, drying, storage, and milling.
I hope that I gave you a good flavor of our oat flakes and their suitability for all applications.
Thank you for listening.
Now, I will pass you over to Avril Collins, who will talk about the growing trends in plant-based products.
Hello, my name is Avril Collins, Marketing Manager in the Plant hub at Glanbia Ireland.
Today I will provide insights into the growth of plant-based food and beverages, and show how this trend has had a significant impact on the supermarket shelves.
As I entered the supermarket today, the expanding choice of plant-based products on the shelves is evident.
The growth of plant-based foods and beverages can be seen in all areas of the supermarket, with plant-based frozen desserts in the freezers, yogurts and milk alternatives in the fridges, and plant-based chocolate and snacks on the shelves.
The plant-based market moved from trend to food revolution, and has now evolved into a canvas for innovation.
This plant-based innovation spreads across different market categories.
As you can see from the graph, in Europe and the US the top market category of food and beverage launches with a plant-based claim is dairy alternatives, accounting for 24% of launches.
Meat substitutes, sports nutrition, cereals, ready meals, and desserts and ice-creams are also very strong market categories.
With the growing popularity of plant-based, there has been a global increase in vegetarian, vegan, and plant-based claims on food and beverage launches.
This includes a 23% increase in vegan claims, and a 50% increase in plant-based claims.
From 2017 to 2021, One, the fastest-growing subcategory of food and beverage launches with a plant-based claim included main dishes, which had an increase of 200%, non-dairy ice cream and frozen dessert, which were up 172%, and baby fruits, desserts, and yogurts, which increased by 147%.
Sustainability and nutrition are playing a significant role in steering this market.
In terms of sustainability, environmental concerns are driving plant-forward innovations, with 2 in 5 consumers in Europe and the US agreeing that plant-based alternatives are better for the environment.
In terms of nutrition, the number one cause for consumers in Europe and the US to become more positive towards plant-based alternatives over the past year is healthiness.
We have investigated the top health positionings in food and beverage launches with a plant-based claim in Europe and the US.
The top health positioning is gluten-free.
In fact, 1 in 2 products with a plant-based claim are gluten-free.
The top health positionings also include source of protein, organic, no additives or preservatives, and source of fiber.
Specifically, oat-based products are gaining ground in dairy alternatives, with oat milk becoming the new top product-base for dairy alternatives in 2021.
The growth of plant-based food and beverages can be seen all around us, and we have the perfect oat solution for your plant-based product.
I will now pass you back over to my colleague Ashweenie, to find out what that solution is.
Thank you, Avril.
Hello again everyone.
As Avril has pointed out, there has been significant growth in the plant-based food and beverage categories over the past few years.
This growth in the category has driven Glanbia Ireland to expand its ingredient portfolio into oat floors.
Oat flours are an essential part of the portfolio to enable expansion into plant-based applications.
We have developed two functional oat flours which can be used in a wide range of plant-based applications, such as oat milk and other beverages, yogurts, juices, frozen desserts, and puddings.
Our outstanding functional oat flour is manufactured from premium quality milled 100% whole grain gluten-free oats.
There are a number of different processing steps involved in the manufacturing of oat flour.
Firstly, the oats are dehulled, kiln treated, and milled to flour.
The oat flour is then hydrolyzed using enzymes, where liquefaction and sacrification of starch take place.
This is followed by enzyme deactivation and drying.
By modifying the process, we have developed two functional load floors, which have different functionalities.
Both of our outstanding functional load flow can be used in a wide range of plant based applications.
Our outstanding functional wood flours have outstanding nutritional content.
Which can deliver significant health benefits.
Protein content of outstanding is 11%.
PDAS is a recognized protein quality score with the highest attainable score of 1.
A score of one means this is a complete protein containing all essential amino acids as required by the body.
Our outstanding functional floor has a score of 0.81.
Outstanding function load floors contain approximately 6% fat, 75% carbohydrates, and after hydrolysis, sugar content is 5%.
Fiber is an important nutrient for the optimum functioning of the digestive system.
Beta glucon is a soluble fiber which has proven health benefits, as whole grain gluten-free oats are used in the manufacture of wood standing, fiber and beta glucon content is approximately 5%.
As as being of high quality and having considerable nutritional properties, our outstanding floors have excellent functionality and have been designed for use in a wide range of applications.
Today, I would like to talk about some of the key functional and physical properties of our outstanding wood floors.
These include particle size, viscosity, heat stability, solubility, flowability and sensory.
We have 2 functional out flow in the outstanding range, outstanding RV and outstanding LV.
The knowledge of particle size is important in the food industry because it affects the production, processing, formulation, and quality of food and beverage products.
The powder particle size of our outstanding functional load floor is less than 250 micrometers, whereby 90% of the particle is less than 175 micrometers, 50% of the particle is less than 67 micrometers, and 10% is less than 18.
Viscosity is important for the processibility of the product as as the acceptability of the end product.
Once formulated into a liquid matrix, outstanding functional load floor remains fluid and pourable.
The graph here shows the viscosity of our two outstanding functional oat flows at an inclusion rate of 10%.
As you can see from the graph, both the flowers have different viscosity.
The variation in viscosity across the two floors ensures that outstanding can meet all needs across a wide range of applications, such as beverages, yogurts, frozen desserts, puddings, and many more.
Heat stability is a critical functional in the application of pasteurized and UHD beverages.
Our outstanding function load floor maintains its low viscosity after heat treatment.
I will now demonstrate this viscosity before and after heat treatment.
I have 3 samples, Outstanding functional oat flour RV, outstanding functional oat flour LV, and non-functional oat flour.
I will demonstrate the viscosity and heat stability of these flowers at an inclusion rate of 10 and 20%.
Let's begin with 10%.
I will place this into a water bath at 95 °C for 10 minutes.
I will now remove the samples from the water bath.
As you can see here, the outstanding oat flour are still pourable at 10% inclusion rate.
However, the non-functional oat flour has gelled during the heat treatment.
It is very viscous and not pourable.
At a 20% inclusion rate, the outstanding oat flour still remains pourable, demonstrating that even at this high inclusion rate, it still remains heat stable.
Here, I have a chocolate oat beverage, which I have made previously, with outstanding functional oat flour, using our own recipe.
All the ingredients were blended together and then homogenized, followed by UHD treatment at approximately 138 to 143 °C.
The product was then cooled and bottled.
As you can see, this product has a nice even appearance and color.
And when poured, you can see that it is smooth and pourable after UHG treatment.
I would just like to touch on solubility and flowability properties of wood standing.
Solubility is the ability of the oat flour to dissolve in water.
The solubility of outstanding functional load floor is approximately 70%.
This means, in comparison to a nonfunctional oat flour, outstanding functional oat flour displays very good solubility and will achieve maximum functionality in application.
Powder flow is defined as flowability.
Both of our outstanding functional oat flours are cohesive powders, which means they are easy to handle during processing.
And finally, sensory.
Outstanding functional oat flours display an oatie flavor and oti aftertaste, as as a sweet flavor and sweet aftertaste.
Hopefully that has demonstrated to you the physical and functional properties of our outstanding floors.
I will now hand over to Aoife, who will demonstrate the use of flour in an application.
Hello, I'm Aoife, senior technologist within the applications team.
And today I will demonstrate the use of outstanding functional oat flour in a dairy alternative ice cream or frozen dessert.
Our outstanding functional oat flour is easy to handle and may be incorporated into many different types of ice cream, and can be used in a typical ice cream manufacturing process.
Outstanding functional oat flour is an excellent choice for dairy alternative ice cream.
Due to its neutral oaty taste.
This allows you to achieve the flavor you desire in your ice cream without any unpleasant aftertaste.
Oat standing also delivers a creamy, thick mouthfeel and indulgent texture consumers expect from an ice cream.
OK, so let's start the typical process for dairy alternative ice cream.
Firstly, we start by adding the oat flour to water and mixing for 5 minutes at high shear, allowing the flour to fully disperse.
As as the oat flour, we have other dry and wet ingredients.
These are mixed together under medium shear for a minimum of 15 minutes, allowing for all the ingredients to hydrate.
This mixture would then go through your typical pasteurization and homogenization steps before cooling and then transferring to the fridge to begin the aging process.
Aging of the mix is important, as it allows the fat to partially crystallize and gives the protein time to hydrate.
The benefit of this is to improve the whipping properties of the mix.
Therefore, improving overrun of the product.
This ultimately supports optimum textural formation in the finished product.
This mix is left to age at 4 degrees for a minimum of 4 hours.
Here is one that I have aged overnight.
As you can see, the viscosity of the mixture has increased and it is ready to be processed in the ice cream machine.
The machine will continuously churn, where a blade will incorporate air into the mixture until it reaches -5 degrees.
The dairy alternative ice cream can now be removed.
At this stage in your typical ice cream manufacturing process, the product will be filled into its final packaging and transferred to a blast freezer at -25 to -35 degrees, to allow the dairy alternative ice cream to harden.
As you can see from this product, which has been made in advance, the oat base has given the dairy alternative ice cream a thick, creamy consistency and shows a good resistance to melt, creating a desirable sensory experience for the consumer.
Thank you very much for your time.
I will now hand you over to Gary.
Thank you Aoife.
Hello, my name is Gary Sheehan, Plant Portfolio Manager.
Today, I will tell you about a new range of plant-based chief alternatives which were launched in December 2021.
Glanbia Ireland has been at the forefront of cheddar cheese technology for more than 50 years, and our expertise in developing award-winning cheese for international retail, food service, and ingredients markets is globally recognized.
Our expertise in cheese development, our extensive oats portfolio, and the growing trend in plant-based cheese motivated us to broaden our cheese portfolio to extend into plant-based cheese solutions.
Our range contains an outstanding mozzarella style, red cheddar style, and white cheddar style.
As as Finney mentioned, oats are an excellent ingredient and are naturally nutritious.
They are high in soluble fibers, especially beta glucan, which can help to reduce and lower cholesterol.
Oats also contain a range of minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc.
They're low in sugar, salt, and saturated fats, and in addition, our oats are gluten-free.
As as being gluten-free, our outstanding mozzarella style, red cheddar style, and white cheddar style are soy-free, dairy-free, and lactose-free.
Today, I will demonstrate for you how our range of plant-based cheese alternatives deliver on functional and sensory benefits.
Their density and texture make all three cheese styles excellent for grating, slicing, and dicing.
All three styles have a pleasant savory cheese taste, with a clear unami base note.
They differ in flavor and intensity according to their style, and their flavors are typical of other plant-based cheese alternatives.
I will now demonstrate to you that a range of plant-based cheese alternatives are excellent to use on pizza.
All three styles are easy to spread onto the pizza with no tendency to stick.
As you will see, it has melted very , while all shreds melting completely.
A slight browning has been achieved with very little oil release.
When tasted on a pizza, the mouthfeel is creamy.
The meltability of the three styles is also suitable for burger application.
Overall, a range can help you deliver completely plant-based options with a cheese-like experience in a range of end products such as pizzas, burgers, salads and lasagnas.
I will now pass you over to Tom Finlay, who will talk to you about our unique growing environment, our processing and innovation capabilities.
Thank you Gary.
My name is Tom Finley, head of strategic alliances and the category lead for the plant up.
I'm going to tell you a bit more about our unique growing environment.
And our own processing and innovation capabilities.
Ireland's island location on the western edge of Europe provides a temperate climate, plentiful rainfall, and rich deep soils, perfect for growing oats.
The high yield from our Irish soil and climate conditions means we can operate in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.
To ensure the products and ingredients we create are of high quality, we maintain control and oversight of our entire supply chain, ensuring full traceability from the old field to the customer.
Processing of our oats occurs in our state of the art grade A BRC accredited mill located in Portlaoise, Ireland.
The mill is oat only, which helps to reduce the risk of contamination with other grains.
Our mill is 100% fueler equipped, which ensures a high quality, uniform product.
The oats are minimally handled, minimally processed, and milled using purely mechanical means, without chemicals or solvents.
We extract the full nutritional value of our grains and preserve that value with a heat treatment process, which maintains the full integrity of the ingredient.
Over the last number of years, we have invested heavily in our R&D expertise and capabilities.
We recently undertook a renovation of our innovation center.
This new center opened in late 2021.
And delivers state of the art technology with a processing area and a pilot plant, which will enable high throughput prototyping for innovative solutions and applications.
These solutions eliminate the classic problems of product formulation.
For example, our outstanding functional oat flour becomes virtually unnoticeable in beverages and other products.
It solves the viscosity and particulate issues, tastes amazing, and delivers all the grains inherent nutritional value.
We have an extensive external network of academic and commercial relationships, both within Ireland and across the world, which supports us to provide superior nutrition in plant and dairy.
I hope this has provided you with a good flavor of our capabilities in plant-based ingredients.
You will see that our growing and evolving oat portfolio delivers the exceptional flavor and functionality now demanded throughout changing lifestyles and taste preferences.
Thank you very much for your time today.
Now I'll pass you back to Yvonne for our Q&A session.
Thanks everybody.
We're now starting our Q&A session.
We have a couple of questions here.
And the first question is, how do you guarantee that there is no gluten present after conventional production in the mill?
I'll take that one.
So Yvonne, thanks.
So, so we have a reputation for having one of the most, hygienic, if not the most hygienic mill in the world.
It's state of the art buller equipment from start to finish.
It's BRC grade A accredited, and you know, we started with conventional oatmeal and we introduced gluten-free and organic to our offering over the last few years and, to make sure the gluten status is maintained.
We do a full plant clean down before we do a gluten-free run.
And what that means is we have to close the plant for a week and take all the equipment apart and clean it out fully.
And so that gives us the assurance we need.
On top of that then we have a standard program of swabbing and we don't let any finished product leave Glanbia until it has been positively released.
That's, that's within the mill and Maria, you might comment maybe from the economy side.
Yeah.
Following on from that, obviously we have our Glanbia Ireland closing supply chain, which we have from our seed selection right through to our harvest and our, depot where we deliver in our grain.
And that's a rigorous 14 step supply chain where we ensure that we have no contamination.
To the gluten-free crop along the way.
And, and that involves a lot of rigorous inspections.
It's dependent on selecting growers and our Glanbia Ireland agronomists work closely with our growers to ensure that we do have a gluten-free crop.
Right.
Thank you.
Yeah, that's also coming then onto the next question.
And that says, what are organic oats and gluten-free oats?
We heard a little bit about the gluten-free already, but maybe you can just, yep, sure Yvonne.
Our organic oats are organically grown in Ireland, without any use of pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers.
Our gluten-free oats then guarantee 10 parts per million compared to the industry standard of 20 parts per million.
Oats in general are gluten-free.
However, the way they are managed and harvested in other setups where equipment is shared makes them different to the, the gluten-free that we grow, where every step is ensured that it's gluten-free standard.
So we manage every step of our supply chain with our oats secure supply chain, as I mentioned.
Our crops are mapped and rigorously inspected throughout the growing season.
Our Glanbia agronomists work closely with selecting the crop and the field where the crop is going to be grown, and they work with the grower throughout the growing season.
And then for harvesting, we have Glanvia dedicated equipment where we harvest the crop and transport it.
So each step is covered where we're ensuring no contamination.
Right, there's one more question there.
Can you produce bespoke products to suit the customer's own specification?
I'll take that one.
So Yvonne, so as I mentioned, we're fully automated state of the art buller equipment from start to finish, so that gives us the ability to make our own product or bespoke product which we do, and to be honest, you know, we run a lot of, specific product for customers too on top of our own range.
Right.
Thanks.
Right, there is some interest in the trend there.
A question, can you tell us about the growing trends in non-dairy cheese?
I can take that one, Yvonne.
So according to the Enova database, the non-dairy cheese category has grown at an average annual growth rate of 51% from 2017 to 2021.
So these plant-based cheese alternatives come in a range of formats, including fondue style, cream cheese style, and that led us to develop our own plant-based cheese alternative range, including mozzarella style, red cheddar style, and white cheddar style.
Right, thank you.
And what formats do the plant-based cheeses come in then?
So they come in 9 kg block and a 2 kg shred.
Right.
And could these blocks be sliced on high speed industrial slices as?
Yeah, so the, the tests we've done so far has indicated that that is the case.
A key thing for our customers is having texture right now.
The the texture obviously is key for sizeability and it's good for also for yield.
So, we're confident that the tests we've done so far is actually giving us good results across the board for our customers.
Right Thank you.
We have one more question for the functional oat flour.
Can I use the functional oat flour in a fruit flavored ice cream application, or will the taste of the base limit my choice of flavors?
I can take that one.
So our outstanding functional oat flour, it gives the ice cream alternatives a very pleasant neutral taste, so it works perfectly when you mix in a flavor to it.
Yes, apart from having a neutral taste which complements many fruit flavors, it's also giving the mixture a creamy indulgent texture and that's important as an ice cream alternative.
Yeah, thanks.
And then maybe one last question, that's really important.
How do I choose the right ingredient for my application, particularly between the types of flowers?
Yes, so generally speaking, our finely milled beve flour is suitable for ready to mix applications.
Whereas our functional LV oat flour, that was specifically designed for ready to drink UHT applications.
Functional RV of flour, that is ideal for dairy alternative applications such as yogurts, ice creams, chocolates, things like that.
But the most important thing is that the customers know that they can come to us for advice on which of our solutions will be best for their own product.
So don't hesitate to contact us directly.
Thank you.
Yeah, very important point.
We'll conclude the Q&A session at this stage, but, if you have any more questions, please do ask, and, if you want to know more about our outstanding old solutions for your particular application, please ask our experts.
Thanks for watching today.
We'll send around the on demand link for the webinar after the session concludes.
Thanks for watching.
Goodbye.
