SEPARATING oats and porridge is virtually impossible - the Scots favourite is by far and away the most popular use for the humble grain.
However, if the work being done by the Australian Export Grain Innovation Centre (AEGIC) comes to fruition the next generation of oat consumers is as likely to eat the cereal in the form of a Szechuan style noodle as they are a bowl of porridge.
Speaking at the recent Grain Growers Innovation Generation (IG) conference, AEGIC research scientist Nabeen Dulal said his organisation was keen to bolster the grain export potential of the crop.
Oats are popular with Australian grain and fodder producers for their hardiness and versatility as it is able to produce either grain or hay.
Australian generally produces around a million tonnes of grain oats and a significant amount of oaten hay, depending on the season.
At present a large percentage are used for stock feed, but Dr Dulal said there were good opportunities to boost the human consumption market, especially given the focus on the health benefits of the cereal.
"Oats are high in fibre and have a good nutritional package, compared to other cereals they have more minerals," he said.
"They also have a very good fatty acid profile, and reduce the risk of heart disease."
As with many growth opportunities in the Aussie grains sector, Dr Dulal said China would play a key role.
Dr Dulal said China was becoming increasingly aware of the myriad health benefits of oats and that consumption was starting to rise, albeit off an extremely low starting point.
At present the rate of consumption is just 0.5kg per person per annum, but even at such a low per capita level, across China's 1.4 billion people this is still big business.
"There has been a big growth in China's importing of oats since around 2007 and we'd expect that with the Chinese middle class growing that this would continue.
"If we can increase consumption by a little, even just another half a kilo, it is going to be a big deal for the Australian oat industry."
But Australia will have to think of alternative food products as China is unlikely to want just porridge oats.
Oat noodles, oat milk and oat 'rice' were three areas he said could prove popular in China.
This will not be without its challenges.
Oats are lauded as a low gluten product by those looking to cut down their gluten consumption, but equally it makes it more difficult to make noodles from them.
Dr Dulal said work had been conducted to try and find the best ratios of oats in noodles and to try and increase the amount of oats used and still retain the correct quality.
He said Chinese consumers were looking for a brown noodle, which reflected the perceived health benefits of the product.
In terms of the rice, he said the oats would be pearled, but the key was to keep as much of the healthy attributes and not to mill the product excessively as is the case with existing oat rices on the market.
Dr Dulal said Australian oat producers were in the box seat as a preferred supplier of oats to China as they could could tap into Australia's reputation as a safe and clean grain producer.