Meurens Natural Launches Multi-Function Oat Syrup to Shorten Beverage Decks
Meurens Natural has formulated Natu Oat 35 HP, a multi-functional oat syrup that delivers sweetness, body, and protein enrichment to eliminate secondary additives in functional beverages.
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Aubel, Belgium — 23 October 2026
Belgian cereal ingredient specialist Meurens Natural is tackling manufacturing complexity in plant-based beverages with the introduction of Natu Oat 35 HP, an oat syrup engineered to combine sweetening, texturising, and protein enrichment into a single raw material input. The cereal extract targets the escalating operational tension between consumer demand for short, recognisable ingredient declarations and the technical necessity of additives in stable ready-to-drink (RTD) functional beverages.
Simon Brandt, NPD manager at Meurens Natural, stated that plant-based beverage design has advanced past initial attempts to mimic dairy sensory attributes toward strict formulation efficiency. Standard market practices require formulators seeking protein positioning to supplement oat bases with secondary plant proteins, such as pea or faba bean isolates, alongside hydrocolloids and emulsifiers to manage suspension, mouthfeel, and foaming. Natu Oat 35 HP addresses these requirements natively through cereal fractionation, allowing manufacturers to deliver foam stability and body while achieving protein content from an entirely oat-based matrix.
From an operations standpoint, blending dry protein isolates into liquid oat bases often creates dispersion bottlenecks, extending tank hydration cycles and increasing the risk of thermal fouling during ultra-high-temperature (UHT) processing. Consolidating sweetness, stability, and protein into a liquid cereal base cuts wet-blend mixing phases, reduces bulk ingredient handling, and minimises sedimentation defects in barista-style and functional RTD runs.
What this means for the United Kingdom
For UK brand owners retailing through Boots, Holland & Barrett, and major grocers, this cereal-derived approach enables a compliant "source of protein" claim under Great Britain nutrition labelling standards while eliminating secondary isolates that trigger ultra-processed food concerns. Eliminating separate stabilisers, sweetening agents, and isolated proteins compresses bills of materials and simplifies factory batch sheets for contract manufacturers. Operations teams must assess whether switching to a specialised multi-functional oat syrup offsets standard bulk commodity pricing, auditing minimum order quantities and liquid tank storage requirements against expected yield improvements.
Brand owners increasingly rely on contract-manufacturing partners such as Supplement Factory to navigate these requirements.