Made out of milk: A new orange soda containing milk nutrients

Dairy Foods, Dec, 2002 by Donna Berry

Dairilean Inc., Sioux Falls, S.D., appears to be inventing a new category with the introduction of a nutritious soda called M.O.O.M. An acronym for "made out of milk," M.O.O.M. was designed to help traditional soda drinkers--basically kids--consume more calcium and other milk nutrients.

Owning three patents that cover processes for fractionating milk into various components and using the fractions in an array of products, Bruce Schroder, a food scientist by degree, as well as president and CEO of the 20-year-old research and development firm, has used his proprietary technology to make this unique product.

"What we have done is take the good things out of milk and put them in soda," says Schroder. "Kids' diets today do not contain enough of the bone-building nutrient calcium in order to prevent development of osteoporosis when they get older. Because kids prefer drinking soda to all other beverages, we thought, why not put calcium and other milk nutrients into soda.

"Published research reports show that children are not eating and drinking the foods required to build strong bones," he adds. "In fact, by consuming regular soda they could be adversely affecting their body's ability to absorb calcium."

Through the addition of fat-free milk extract, which is how it appears on the ingredient statement, an 11oz bottle of M.O.O.M. contains 180 calories, 10% of the Daily Value for calcium and 6% DV for phosphorus, which is necessary for calcium absorption.

"M.O.O.M has the nutrition of milk with the look, flavor, fizz and fun of soda. And it does not contain any fat, cholesterol, protein or caffeine," says Schorder.

The fat-free milk extract is basically milk's water, minerals, vitamins and lactose.

"But not enough lactose that it should keep most people who are lactose intolerant from drinking a serving or two of M.O.O.M. a day," he says.

For now, M.O.O.M. is available in orange flavor only, "as parents seem to associate orange with being a little better for their kids than cola or other soda flavors," Schroder says. "But other flavors are in the works. In fact, we plan to introduce one or two flavors in early 2003."

So why not just take regular soda and throw in a vitamin and nutrient pre-mix?

"The benefit of adding minerals and vitamins extracted from milk is that they are labeled as such," Schroder says. "If you were to take an ordinary orange soda and add the same nutrients, the ingredient statement would be a laundry list of vitamins and minerals and it would look more like a vitamin pill bottle than a soda."

M.O.O.M. comes packaged similar to soda and because it is shelf-stable, it can be sold at ambient temperature, right next to Coke and Pepsi products.

"M.O.O.M. is a marriage of milk and soft drink," says Schroder. "It's a whole new beverage category, featuring our Dairy Soft Drink[R] products."

Some funding for the development of M.O.O.M. came from a small business National Institute of Health grant allotted for the development of healthful products that will help children increase their dietary calcium intakes. As part of this grant, Schroder is conducting calcium bioavailability studies and is working with local school administrators to offer M.O.O.M. to students through vending machines and lunch lines.

M.O.O.M. has been in the retail market since July. It is sold through grocery stores in Eastern South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota. Six-packs of PET bottles sell for about $3.00. To date, sales have exceeded expectations.

To increase consumer awareness, M.O.O.M. is sampled regularly, and for the holidays, will be promoted as the beverage-of-choice for a "Healthy Holiday" season.

For more information, visit www.drinkmoom.com.

INGREDIENT STATEMENT: CARBONATED WATER AND FAT FREE MILK EXTRACT, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS AND COLORS (YELLOW 6 AND RED 40), CITRIC ACID AND POTASSIUM BENZOATE (PRESERVES FRESHNESS).