Kids who don't like milk can now get their calcium and minerals from a new soda first developed at South Dakota State University in Brookings.
MOOM is an orange flavored, carbonated soda that packs the same calcium and mineral punch as a glass of milk. MOOM even contains less fat than milk because only the watery base of milk is used. The fat is skimmed and used to make SDSU ice cream.
"We take milk and use a filtration process that separates the proteins from the water and the minerals," said Nolan Wolkow, general manager of Espree Inc., a Sioux Falls, S.D., company that worked with the SDSU product and gave it the name MOOM, which stands for Made Out Of Milk.
"It just happened that my boss's wife just said, 'Well, why don't you just call it made out of milk?' So we coined it MOOM," Wolkow said.
Unlike normal sodas, MOOM does not contain caffeine. The calories are about the same as a glass of milk.
"We're trying to give kids that alternative," Wolkow said. "Instead of grabbing that soda in the afternoon, they can grab a MOOM instead and get some of that extra calcium and other minerals from milk. Compared to a glass of milk, calories are probably right about the same. Milk is maybe a little higher, but then milk also has protein and fat."
Orange-flavored MOOM is currently available in select areas of the Midwest and the product has been tested in Sioux Falls schools and on the SDSU campus. Depending on the severity of their allergy, people who are lactose intolerant are usually able to drink MOOM.
Manufacturers are experimenting with new flavors and low calorie combinations that may be available by 2003.
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