The test is in the latte.
When a barista pours steamed oat milk over espresso and the foam holds tight bubbles, glossy surface, no separation Pamely Keung knows the science worked.
A double alum of UBC's faculty of land and food systems, Keung is director of research and development at Earth's Own, one of Canada's leading plant-based beverage companies. For nearly a decade, she has helped shape its oat milk portfolio, including the barista-style formulation now used in Canada by a major international coffee chain.
Across the country, thousands of oat milk lattes are poured each week. Few customers think about the chemistry behind them but that smooth foam is the result of years of research, testing and manufacturing that transforms Canadian-grown oats into finished products.
Food and beverage processing is Canada's largest manufacturing industry by value, with sales reaching $173.4 billion in 2024. Plant-based and health-focused foods are among the fastest-growing global segments, and when products are developed and manufactured domestically supported by strong academic-industry talent pipelines the benefits extend beyond individual companies, strengthening supply chains and anchoring innovation in Canada.
UBC-trained scientists such as Keung are helping push the sector forward every day.
Engineering Canada's favourite oat milks
"It's not just blending oats and straining them," Keung says. "Transforming whole oats into a liquid at commercial scale with good nutrition, great taste and the right functionality is technically very challenging."
Developing Earth's Own Oat Barista milk required significant development time and many production trials.
"It had to foam properly, hold its structure in coffee, balance espresso's bitterness and be reproducible at scale," she says. "And we had to design experiments that would get us there efficiently."
Keung credits her UBC training in experimental design, food chemistry and sensory analysis for enabling that speed and precision. Shared UBC training across her team also creates a common approach to problem-solving, accelerating development.
"The training helped strengthen our development approach, which supported timely execution," says Keung.
That capability helped make Oat Barista a category leader, securing major food service partnerships and expanding the company's national reach.
But product development doesn't end at launch. Her team continues to refine texture, taste, nutrition, shelf life, ingredient yields and process efficiency incremental gains that protect margins at industrial scale and sustain domestic manufacturing at the company's Metro Vancouver facilities.
Earth's Own also prioritizes Canadian-grown oats and domestic suppliers, supporting Canadian farmers and processors, and has seen a significant boost in sales from the "Buy Canadian" movement.
"Every improvement we make strengthens the product, the company and the broader Canadian supply chain," Keung says.
Nutrition as the first line of defence
In Vancouver, UBC experimental medicine graduate Dr. Anthony Marotta is applying similar rigour to tackling chronic disease.
"At Peqish, we develop nutrition solutions to improve health, with a focus on conditions like obesity and Type 2 diabetes," says Dr. Marotta, a clinical scientist and founder of Peqish Group. "We study how ingredients can help regulate metabolism, reduce inflammation and support skin health reflecting a broader shift toward inside-out' wellness."
These conditions cost Canada millions each year in healthcare and lost productivity. At the same time, new front-of-package labelling rules are pushing manufacturers to reduce saturated fat, sugar and sodium.
Peqish is collaborating with UBC associate professor Dr. Anubhav Pratap-Singh to commercialize a chia- and konjac-based fat replacer called 0FatTM. In lab tests, it reduced the calorie content of a hazelnut spread by about 70 per cent while adding fibre and healthy fats.
"Fat replacement is one of the hardest formulation challenges if you don't want to compromise taste and texture," says Dr. Marotta.
The team is initially targeting sauces and dressings, which tend to be very high in calories and fat, followed by other applications in functional foods and supplements.
The partnership reflects a broader model of innovation, where universities and industry work together to bring research to market particularly as companies balance public health demands with competitiveness.
"Universities generate the research that leads to real-world impact," said Dr. Marotta. "Industry partnerships help bring those innovations to life."
UBC's faculty of land and food systems plays a distinctive role in that pipeline, offering B.C.'s only accredited food science degree alongside graduate programs and industry focused micro-credentials. Its graduates work across the sector which is the largest manufacturing employer in Canada from multinational firms like PepsiCo to B.C. start-ups like SmartSweets.
The science behind a plant-based latte or a reformulated salad dressing may be invisible to consumers, but it underpins Canada's largest manufacturing sector where UBC-trained scientists translate research into products, partnerships and economic value across B.C. and beyond.
And sometimes the proof is a latte that pours just right.
Learn more about how UBC graduates are working with industry to drive economic innovation.
