HealthFerm Showcases Oat Research at the Food Oats Conference 2025, Leuven
The Food Oats Conference 2025, held in Leuven from 12-14 October 2025 under the theme “Oats for a Diverse, Innovative, and Healthy Global Food System,” gathered leading scientists, industry experts, and stakeholders from across the globe to discuss how oats contribute to sustainable, nutritious, and forward-looking food systems. Covering the full oat value chain—from cultivation and breeding to functionality, processing, and health—this year’s conference featured a dedicated session spotlighting the Horizon Europe project HealthFerm.
HealthFerm’s Dedicated Session Entitled “Oat Research in the Horizon Europe Project HealthFerm,” Session 6 brought together researchers from several HealthFerm partner institutions to present recent advances in oat fermentation, processing, and health. The session opened with Yamina De Bondt (KU Leuven, Belgium), who provided an overview of HealthFerm: Innovative pulse and cereal-based food fermentations for human health and sustainable diets. Her talk set the stage for the following presentations by highlighting the project’s integrated approach to studying fermentation as a tool for improving both sustainability and nutritional quality across cereal and pulse-based foods.
Building on this introduction, Eline Lambrechts (KU Leuven, Belgium) discussed Understanding the key enzymatic conversions for successful lactic acid fermentation of kilned oat wholemeal. Her presentation offered new insights into how specific enzymatic pathways can be optimized to achieve efficient and consistent fermentation outcomes in oat substrates—a crucial step toward stable production of fermented oat ingredients.
Ewoud Blontrock (KU Leuven, Belgium) presented Effect of oat wholemeal lactic acid fermentation on the composition and functionality in oil-in-water emulsions of a liquid oat base. His research explored how fermentation influences the structural and emulsifying properties of oat-based systems, a key consideration for developing plant-based dairy alternatives with appealing texture and stability.
Kati Katina (University of Helsinki, Finland) shared results on Processing-induced changes in starch, β-glucan, and proteins in oat-based dairy alternatives and subsequent in vitro digestibility. Her work provided compelling evidence that fermentation and other processing steps can alter oat macromolecules in ways that improve digestibility and nutrient availability.
The session concluded with a joint presentation by Carlos Gómez-Gallego (University of Eastern Finland), Christophe Courtin (KU Leuven), and Arno Wouters (KU Leuven) on Consumption of fermented and non-fermented oat-based dairy analogues influences plasma levels of metabolites associated with cardiovascular health. This study linked compositional and processing differences in oat-based products to measurable physiological outcomes, underlining the broader health relevance of HealthFerm’s work.
Bridging Science, Functionality, and Health Together, the five talks provided a comprehensive picture of how HealthFerm’s multidisciplinary research advances understanding of oat fermentation—from enzymatic and structural mechanisms to product functionality and human health impacts. The session underscored the importance of connecting processing innovations with nutritional benefits, illustrating how targeted fermentation strategies can unlock new potential for oats within plant-based food systems.
HealthFerm’s active participation at the Food Oats Conference 2025 reaffirmed its central role in bridging cereal science, food technology, and nutrition. By fostering collaboration across Europe’s leading research institutions, the project continues to drive innovation at the intersection of sustainability and health.