A range of Arla products, specially designed for space travel, was recently admitted to NASA’s list of approved products.

Future astronauts will be able to choose between yoghurt and chocolate milk from Arla Foods during space missions. Specially developed by Arla Foods, the products have become official items on the menus for astronauts on board spaceships.

Following a successful test, NASA has now approved both the yoghurt and other space products including five yoghurt lines, a powder-based chocolate milk with vitamins, probiotics and fibre. Arla’s “Milkbites” - small chocolate balls - whose nutritional value corresponds to that of a glass of milk, has also been approved.

“Although the challenge has been huge, I’ve always been confident that we could deliver,” said Innovations Director Michael Stevns. “We have succeeded thanks to a highly committed effort on the part of everyone involved - across divisions and departments. The whole exercise goes to show that everything is possible providing the will is there and the products are good.”

Next stage in Arlas space project Lacmos will be to focus on launching new products with some of the properties of the space products.
The development of the dairy products for space started in the summer of 2001. Since then the project has undergone several stages of intense development work until a breakthrough occurred in March 2005, when one of the yoghurts arrived at the ISS space station for testing.

“The project has provided us with extensive new knowledge and a large network within scientific research,” explains Project Manager Carsten Hallund Slot. “However, this is also about image. Although Arla is an innovative business, this may not always be what consumers see, so when we talk about Lacmos, milk and other dairy products for space travel, people listen enthusiastically.”

NASA’s approval does not mark the end of the Lacmos project. The next stage in the life of the project will focus on optimising the knowledge derived from the project and launching new products with some of the properties of the space products in the market place.

“We’ll simply move the project back to earth,” Carsten Hallund Slot says. “After all, the number of potential customers is much greater down here, including those billions of people with little or no access to chilling facilities. The “milkbites”, for instance, can be used as a nutritious snack for children. As the space products are designed for extreme conditions, they may also be useful in connection with disasters or expeditions to remote areas of the earth.”

The word Lacmos derives from the Latin word for milk “Lac” and ”mos” for “kosmos”, i.e. universe.

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