Toronto startup launches new zero sugar oat milk and it's already in Costco

Oat milk from a Toronto company founded by two entrepreneurs is now available at Costco, and on top of being local, it's zero sugar.

"Oat Canada is the first oat milk on the market that only has one carb per serving and zero grams of sugar. This is very important because oats tend to be very starchy and therefore have a lot of carbs," says Eloise Ambursley, a 27-year-old from Toronto who founded the company with her 29-year-old husband Jamari Ambursley. 

"We also only have 90 calories per serving, making it perfect for those practicing keto. Our nutritional profile has even attracted TFC players like Chris Mavinga, Liam Fraser, Jacob Shaffelburg and Eric Zavaleta and many others who are living a healthy and active lifestyle."

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“No added sugar”? “Unsweetened”? Do these labels really mean NO sugar? To avoid confusion, we decided not to sugar coat it. That’s why we went with 0g of sugar instead. Oats are not naturally sweet. They are however, really starchy. 🆘 Your body converts this starch into sugar with something called enzymes. Companies have figured out a way to replicate this enzymatic process of converting starches into sugar before it reaches your body and get away with saying, “no added sugar” or “natural sweetness.” The problem here is that your body already has these enzymes that convert starches into sugar on its own. So when you see a nutrition facts tables that says 6g of sugar and 18g of carbs, a large portion of that 18g of Carbs is likely the remaining starch that will still get broken down into sugar once in your body. 🤯 We don’t hate sugar and we will likely have products that contain sugar in them but we never want to hide our sugar. We never want to hide behind labels. We will always tell you how it is. So, every time you pick up an Oat Canada product, just know that we will always call out our sugar content. We will strive to push boundaries and offer you amazing products with lower or no sugar. Our 0g of sugar oat milk was our way of putting the control back into your hands. ❤️

A post shared by Oat Canada 🇨🇦 (@oatcanada) on May 9, 2020 at 5:32pm PDT

Other oat drinks available in Canada include Oatly, which makes a "Skinny" version which while containing only 0.5 grams of fat still has the same 4.1 grams of sugar as most of its other oat drink products.

Minor Figures, another popular brand imported from the UK, contains nine grams of sugar. 

Big brand Silk makes an Oat Yeah line with an unsweetened option that's available in Canada, but while it has zero grams of sugar it still contains seven carbs.

The product launched June 11 in Toronto and is now available at 10 Costco locations, including ones in Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Mississauga, Etobicoke and Waterloo.

All of Oat Canada's zero sugar oat milk is made in Etobicoke.

"Before the pandemic, we had plans to launch into coffee shops such as Nordstrom's Ebar, Dineen Coffee, and others but because of the pandemic, that has made us reconsider our launch focusing on retailers," says Eloise. 

"We feel very fortunate to be able to have launched into Costco because it isn't something easy to do nor is it very typical for a food and beverage company to launch first into Costco."

Although it's their first product, Eloise also says "We will also be launching a chocolate milk with less sugar than our competitors as well as an ice cream line soon."

by Amy Carlberg via blogTO