Swedish brand DUG has created a new plant-based milk from potatoes and it’s fighting for the low-carbon crown.
In the 21st century, there is no escape from plant-based milk. In the UK, nearly a quarter of British now drink plant-based milk, rising to 33% among young generation.
Entering this popular and saturated market is new plant-based milk that claims to be the most sustainable dairy alternative yet: potato milk. Suitable for vegetarians and nut-free, the Swedish company DUG has just won the World Food Innovation Award 2021 in the best allergy-friendly product category.
The carbon footprint of plant-based milk
The drive for a low carbon footprint has been at the heart of the plant-based milk boom since the beginning. While the carbon footprint of dairy milk varies from country to country, the global average is a whopping 3.0 kg CO2 per liter produced. This number is 0.9 kg CO2 per liter for oat milk. However, not all milk is created equal, and some plant options fall out of favor in the last decade. For example, almond milk has a low carbon footprint during production (0.7 kg of CO2 per liter), but it is disastrous for the environment in other ways.
Almond milk is the worst option
Around 80% of Almond milk is grown and produced in California, a state well-known for its droughts, making almond milk’s high water production values – 120 liters to produce just one glass – terrible for the local environment. Though this is still less water than it takes to produce one glass of dairy milk, the carbon footprint of shipping it across the world makes almond milk one of the worst culprits.
Oat milk is the best option at the moment
With low CO2 per kg and low water consumption, soy milk is very sustainable on paper, but due to its usage for feeding livestock, soybean production has led to vast areas of the Amazon rainforest and vital ecosystems being destroyed in the process. Thus, soybean production has had a very difficult relationship with environmentalists.
Widely regarded as the most sustainable milk to date, oat milk consumes slightly more CO2 per kg than almonds, but uses less land and significantly less water, making it the winner so far.
The new (potato) milk
There is a growing consumer demand for vegan, eco-friendly products and potato milk ticks both of those boxes. DUG is the name of the latest plant-based milk to challenge the oat milk crown. This Swedish product is now available at UK supermarkets in original, barista, and unsweetened versions. Like most plant-based milk, it’s made from an emulsion of a plant product (in this case, potatoes and rapeseed oil).
But what is the environmental credit of potatoes? Potato cultivation is twice as efficient as growing oats per square meter, and potato milk has a lower carbon footprint than other plant-based milks (0.27 kg/liter). Moreover, potatoes can be cultivated almost anywhere in the world, and with a low carbon footprint, the milk requires just half as much land as oat milk and 56 times less than almond milk for production.
What does potato milk taste like?
If DUG wants to enter the over-saturated milk market, it has one key thing on its side: taste. To date, the reception has been relatively positive on Amazon, but to reach a mass audience they need to deal with it.
Reference:
https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/02/10/is-potato-milk-the-most-sustainable-dairy-alternative-yet
