Oatly.com

Oatly and Phosphates 

Blending in isn’t something we usually champion, in fact, you may have noticed we like to do the exact opposite. We’ve always been proud to stand out, to mix things up, to unsettle anything that’s settled. But of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, and you can find ours just by looking into your cup. When formulating our Barista Edition oat drink that you know and love today, we wanted to make sure it would blend in seamlessly and effortlessly with what you’d be pouring it into. The only thing that should stand out when you drink from one of our cartons is how good the taste is, and thanks to the delicate balance of our recipe, which includes adding some amounts of dipotassium phosphate, we’ve been able to achieve exactly that.

Phosphorus is a mineral and a nutrient which is essential for life, as it helps our bodies release energy from food, and build strong bones and teeth. It can also be used as a food additive, which occurs in combination with other minerals and form salts. These salts are called phosphates.

Different kinds of phosphates

We use two different forms of phosphates in our products, which we use sparingly and intentionally. Firstly, we use dipotassium phosphate as an acidity regulator in many of our oat drinks, to help prevent them from curdling in hot or acidic beverages such as coffee and tea. That way, whether you’re ordering an Oatly latte to go or brewing a cuppa at home, our oat drink will blend in effortlessly and seamlessly. Who knew blending in could be so cool? Secondly, in some of our oat drinks, we use calcium phosphates for calcium fortification, to ensure our oat drinks satisfy nutritional guidelines and help our consumers meet their nutritional goals.

What Oatly products include phosphates?

Since our Barista Edition oat drink is formulated to specifically work well in hot drinks, it always contains dipotassium phosphate (no matter which geographical region you’re based in). In some regions, we’ve added dipotassium phosphate and/or calcium phosphates to other varieties of our oat drinks. To check if these are used in specific varieties of oat drinks in your region, please feel free to check out our website, choose your region and visit the specific product page you’re interested in to read the ingredients section.

By adding dipotassium phosphate, our oat drinks get close to the same functional properties as cow's milk. The amount of phosphorus in the Barista Edition is 110 mg/100 ml and our other chilled products - Oat Drink Light, Oat Drink Semi and Oat Drink Whole - contain 81 mg/100 ml. The amount of phosphorus in our Oat Drinks is similar to cow's milk (with Barista Edition having slightly more and our other chilled products slightly less) - although in cow's milk the phosphorus is naturally occurring.

If you have certain health conditions, like chronic kidney disease, that mean you must reduce your phosphate intake or if you want to avoid phosphates, you can choose our organic oat drinks, which are available in some regions. As always when it comes to diet, it is important to consider your total diet. For questions specifically about your own diet, we recommend that you contact your healthcare professional.