Oatly AB: Bringing Disruption to the Global Dairy Industry

Öste’s interest in oats started in the 1970s when he was studying at Lund University under Professor Arne Dahlqvist, who in 1963 had discovered ‘lactose intolerance’ . Öste understood that due to the widespread occurrence of lactose intolerance (almost 65% of people globally experienced some form of lactose intolerance after infancy) there was a great market for an alternative to cow’s milk. He often wondered what paleolithic humans would have drunk for food, if cow milk had not come into the picture and he hit upon the idea of deriving milk from oats, owing to its considerable nutrient profile and ability to be broken down rather easily...