One grain, many possibilities: unlocking the potential of Australian oats

Through partnership with Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA), that vision is moving closer to market, with My PlantCo developing a new generation of Australian oat-based foods under its Real Oats brand, beginning with Oat Rice and Oat Noodles.

Championing an Australian grain

Mei Yong built My PlantCo on two simple convictions: that Australia grows extraordinary produce and that good nutrition should be easy to enjoy.

“I wanted to champion an Australian-grown commodity that could help feed the world,” Yong says, “so we sat down with our food techs and looked at every single grain – chickpeas, wheat, lupins, fava beans and oats.

“I looked at the health profiles of all of them and thought: which product can still have its shiny moment and hasn’t had much research done on it?”

She landed on oats – a grain well known for its nutritional benefits, but whose full potential in everyday food had barely been explored.

Yong saw the potential for more.

Reimagining oats as an all-day food

“If oats are so good for you, why can’t we eat them throughout the day?” Yong says.

Under her Real Oats brand, Yong and My PlantCo began exploring a simple question: what else can oats become?

That question has driven the development of new formats including Oat Rice, noodles and pasta – familiar everyday foods designed to make the nutritional benefits of oats easier to enjoy.

“When it comes to food innovation, you have to make it easy for people by providing it in formats they know how to cook and enjoy,” Yong says.

The nutritional case is compelling: a single bowl of oat rice delivers similar protein to two eggs, with the added benefit of cholesterol-lowering fibre.

“We sit in a country with so much abundance to grow and to feed,” Yong says. “If we can unlock that potential and feed people better around the world, it’s my responsibility to get those products to market.”

Big ambition powered by a specialist partnership

My PlantCo had licensed foundational IP covering the production of rice, noodles and pasta from oats, but turning the lab-scale process into a commercial product required multi-million-dollar equipment and a breadth of expertise that the small company didn’t have in-house.

So, Yong went “shopping”, speaking to universities and other research organisations around Australia to find one that could help.

“FaBA felt like a one-stop shop,” she says of discovering the accelerator.

“They had the capabilities to take on my vision and believed in where I wanted to take the products and the business – they had the people, the skills, the labs and the equipment to help me deliver this project.

“It was a great fit.”

One partner, many capabilities

Dr Jiahua Shi, FaBA Senior Research Fellow, says the partnership has grown into a $5.6 million project with co-investment from GRDC and two FaBA teams providing expertise.

The Premium Food and Beverage Program team led by Professor Heather Smyth and Dr Jiahua Shi, handled the science: product development, sensory evaluation, technical validation, shelf-life testing and production scale-up.

Meanwhile, the Innovation Pathways Program led by Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy, became My PlantCo’s eyes into the market, drawing on 54 inputs into 40 databases to validate and inform decisions on markets, competitors and consumer demand.

For My PlantCo, that combination meant the science and commercial opportunity could be developed in parallel rather than sequentially.

“Partnering with FaBA offers companies co-investment, speed, and integrated access to expertise and facilities,” Dr Shi says.

“Where an external lab might take a day or two to return results, our product development and analytical teams work side by side – a formula developed in the morning can be tested and refined by the afternoon.

“It’s a winning situation for companies because they receive matched investment from FaBA and they own 100 per cent of the IP, which is rare for university-based research.”

The partnership has helped My PlantCo advance shelf-stable Real Oat Rice and Oat Noodles towards commercialisation, while significantly reducing the processing time required – an important step towards faster and more energy-efficient local production.

Working as one country

The company has also benefited from capability building provided by FaBA, such as a three-day sensory masterclass led by Professor Heather Smyth.

“FaBA isn’t just about delivering more products to market – we also train more future leaders and partners for the Australian food and beverage sector,” Dr Shi says.

It’s a philosophy that rings true with Yong, whose definition of success stretches beyond her own company.

“We have to work as one country if we want to win,” Yong says.

“Building capability in our team means we can bring that knowledge back to Western Australia and help strengthen food innovation here too.”

Coming to market

With development progressing across the Real Oats portfolio, the focus is now shifting towards commercialisation – taking Australian-grown oats from research and development into new everyday food formats for consumers.

For Yong, the partnership is also proof of what’s possible when Australian food businesses and research organisations work together.

“Be curious, and have the conversation,” Yong says. “It doesn’t matter what size you are – FaBA’s focus is to help food and beverage companies launch, get into the market and scale.”