Progress 09/01/19 to 04/30/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Over the course of the award performance period, our target audiences included a combination of individuals (through sensory studies), groups (through extension/outreach with small- and mid-sized businesses), market and consumer segments (e.g. healthy eating focused consumers, online v. offline purchasing consumers, school snack & lunch programs, and healthy office snack programs), and communities (e.g. children, parents, and vegans). We thoughtfully adapted our approach to the COVID challenges we faced. The communication and feedback from the various target audience components ultimately helped us better understand the opportunities and decisions that can best promote the product's long-term mass market success, while still maintaining the product's affordability and access for all economic groups. Changes/Problems:While all our grant objectives were ultimately met, COVID did force a few modest changes throughout the award performance period. Two main areas that were impacted by the pandemic were (i) our inability to allow third-party individuals into the USDA's secure facility and (ii) the fact that in-person sensory evaluations for our food product were challenging given COVID safety concerns. The first of these forced us and the USDA technician we've long worked with to take on the entirety of work anticipated for the Agricultural Engineer. We were fortunately able to manage through everything successfully and learned an immense amount along the way that would not have been possible otherwise. As it relates to sensory evaluations, COVID forced us to pivot away from in-person surveys to a system of preparing samples, mailing them to participants, and providing a well-structured online environment for survey completion. Everything ultimately worked out, and both our team and the one leading the survey work still found compelling and valuable data within the results. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?While our research wasn't expected to provide many training and professional development opportunities beyond the three intended objectives, ongoing COVID constraints restricted access of third parties into the USDA facility that we work within. This unforeseen circumstance necessitated the need for us and the USDA to work more closely together to learn & self-perform certain functions, which ultimately provided us with stronger knowledge around machining, production line refinement, and the ultimate needs for scalability. We believe this additional insight will position the company and product for greater long-term success upon commercialization. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Oats are having a bit of a renaissance in popularity right now, resulting from a combination of consumers' growing interest in both healthier eating and a particular product - oat milk. We sensed strong engagement from consumers, companies, and researchers alike throughout the award performance period. That said, for a food as longstanding and well-consumed as oats, we are consistently surprised at how little most folks truly know about the science behind their greatness. While consumers rightfully recognize how healthy oats are, surprisingly few know why. We hope our oat-evangelism is promoting a clearer understanding of oats which ultimately supports future success for both us and broader oat consumption. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Impact Statement: Far too often in today's marketplace, consumers must choose between healthiness and affordability - even more so recently it seems amid higher inflation. Pop Oats was founded on the belief that snacks can be both, without having to sacrifice on taste, when you start with a naturally healthy and affordable grain like oats. The grant funding we received has been incredibly supportive of our continuing efforts to deliver a first-of-its-kind snack to American consumers. Currently, oats are steel cut, rolled, ground, or processed into flours for other products, as they have been for many decades, though no one has yet devised a way to eat whole oat groats by themselves or on-the-go, an increasingly important attribute for today's snacking consumers. Our product attractively does both while still maintaining affordability. American consumers are growingly gravitating towards crunchy snacks, though no standalone oat products of this nature currently exist. Pop Oats' value-added product - bold and savory flavored crunchy oats - can broaden consumers' perception of oats and allow us to launch oats from the breakfast world to the snack universe! Beyond our own offering, we anticipate ultimately being able to sell our base product to other companies so they can healthily add crunch to their own exiting and new products. Taken together, our efforts can promote increased consumption of this healthy grain at a level that has not been seen since the introduction of instant and flavored oatmeal five decades ago. Objective #1: Optimize the final production parameters to create the uniform consistency that's necessary for commercialization. This objective focused on creating production line parameters to facilitate both (i) product consistency and (ii) scalability. Neither existed when we applied for the grant, though both are unequivocally necessary ahead of commercialization. Throughout the award performance period, we worked with the USDA to identify equipment and processes that support both of these critical areas. While we initially anticipated having to build custom equipment to meet our needs, we even better were able to find already commercialized equipment that could reliably and affordably be modified for our now patented process. Before proceeding forward, we importantly (i) reconfirmed the permissible variance of numerous production parameters, (ii) scoped out our necessary changes relative to the manufacturer's stock design, and (iii) visited an existing installation - albeit tailored to a different use - to run oats on the equipment and make certain no problems would arise. All three tasks went smoothly. Key data/takeaways included (i) deriving a clear sense that this production process is later scalable, (ii) ensuring that future scalability is cost effective enough to preserve the product's overall affordability for American consumers, and (iii) determining the optimized run time of oats through each component of the production process to best ensure final product consistency. Regarding product consistency in particular, the equipment nicely reduces the volume of burnt oat pieces to what is effectively zero. Within this objective, we witnessed changes in knowledge and condition. Change in knowledge derives from our novel production method and the recognition that it can produce crunchy oats. Change in condition derives from awareness around climate change and the fact that our production process will importantly have ~30% stronger energy efficiency as compared to more traditional production methods. Objective #2: Advance two value-added processes while making certain (via a combination of lab analysis and sensory evaluations) to maintain the product's physical characteristics (e.g. moisture content, water activity, texture, sensory, etc.) and health/nutrition quality (e.g. beta-glucan content, fiber, protein, limiting fat content from the flavor application, etc). This objective focused on expanding consumers' appetite for the product - quite literally - by (i) thoughtfully flavoring the base product to best meet consumers' modern palette and (ii) expanding the use of our product in other areas of food and snacking, both while making certain not to sacrifice the unique characteristics that make our product so enjoyable and healthy in the first place. We completed three formal sensory studies (totaling 268 respondents) throughout the award performance period, during which we (i) studied and identified what healthy-minded consumers prioritize most in a snack - low sugar, high protein and high fiber - all of which we fair well on, (ii) determined the four top performing flavors for our product with consumers (white cheddar, ranch, chili lime, and salted caramel) from an initial group of 30+, (iii) identified the most suitable flavor application method, and (iv) explored both value-added products and partnerships that can further expand the reach of our base product. Regarding the final item, our earlier considered chocolate/oats bar and oat krispy treat concepts performed well, though consumers were even more interested in the product as a salad topper (e.g. a clustered crouton substitute), an airplane snack (works well given that we are allergen-free), and a healthy office snack. Lastly, our product's inherent nutritional benefits are all maintained throughout the production process, including the fact that it does not diminish oats' naturally beneficial beta glucan content. Regarding nutrition, we expect to offer two different sizes of product. A larger 2oz version of our only sweet variety (salted caramel) will have just 6g of fat (8% DV) and 5g of sugar - the other savory options will have even less sugar (at just 1-2g). This size of offering will have ~250 calories, though is still quite nutritious as expected for oats. We also expect to have a smaller snack size (~100 calories) that would have only 0-2g of sugar depending on the flavor. This is a very low figure for snacks and is important considering that consumers we surveyed identified low sugar as the most important item for them in a snack food. Within this objective, we witnessed changes in knowledge and action. Change in knowledge derives from recasting oats in a new light with our product, and the subsequent recognition that oats can have a larger role in Americans' diets outside of breakfast. Change in action derives from consumers' expressed willingness to expand their oat consumption if provided with convenient, affordable, and tasty options for doing so, all of which are nicely at the core of our goals for the product. Objective #3. Determine the ideal packaging for the Pop Oats snack (via accelerated shelf-life testing) to maximize both the shelf life and product stability that's delivered to consumers. Following on the two prior objectives, this one then focused on attaining maximum shelf life and stability for the anticipated commercialized product. Throughout the award performance period, we determined that the product's shelf-life integrity and longevity would be best preserved through a combination of (i) modestly thicker (~4 mil) and (ii) nitrogen flushed packaging. Done together, accelerated shelf-life testing showed we can achieve 12 months of shelf life in a typical 25°C/77°F environment. These items in mind, we subsequently built specs for a machine that can reliably and cost effectively meet these packaging needs. While our first two objectives are more pioneering in nature, this one offers the least opportunity for changes in knowledge, action, and condition given the relatively progressed science around packaging and shelf life. The goal of this objective was then largely to "do no harm" - that is to say we did not expect packaging to enhance anything per se, though we certainly didn't want our packaging to harm our end product(s) between the point of production and consumption.
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:More than half of the recent reporting period was still heavily impacted by COVID restrictions. That said, we used this time to (i) continue outreach to small- and mid-sized businesses and (ii) develop consumer outreach efforts/surveys that could still be performed with lingering COVID challenges, both of which support key grant objectives. A few notable connections/efforts include (i) selecting local chocolatiers interested in working with our better-for-you base product as a potential ingredient for new products of their own, (ii) speaking with a local woman-owned business about the prospect for developing an altogether new product with our base one, (iii) identifying two companies (one women-owned) that we could possibly partner with for co-manufacturing in the future if we can successfully grow sales once commercialized, and (iv) connecting with healthy-minded consumers to better measure their tastes and feedback as part of our ongoing sensory analysis. Changes/Problems:While most of the earlier COVID-induced delays are abating, in-person sensory testing is still modestly impacted. Separately, our final shelf-life testing is delayed somewhat because of global supply chain disruptions impacting our ability to test on our desired machine. That said, we expect we'll be able to our remaining work in both areas in 2022. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?While our research wasn't expected to provide many training and professional development opportunities beyond the three intended objectives, ongoing COVID constraints restricted access of third parties into the USDA facility that we work within. This unforeseen circumstance necessitated the need for us and the USDA to work more closely together to learn & self-perform certain functions, which ultimately provided us with stronger knowledge around machining and production line refinement. This additional insight should position later commercialization and scalability efforts for greater success. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Oats are having a bit of a renaissance in popularity right now, likely resulting from a combination of consumers' growing interest in both healthier eating and a particular product - oat milk. While we've often sensed strong engagement from small businesses, consumers, and researchers that we speak with, the level of interest seems even somewhat higher in the past year. For a food as longstanding and well-consumed as oats, we're actually quite surprised at how little most folks truly know about the science behind their greatness. While consumers rightfully recognize how healthy oats are, surprisingly few know why. That being said, we hope our oat-evangelism is promoting a clearer understanding of oats which ultimately supports future success for both us and broader oat consumption. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Although COVID delayed certain aspects of our work for over a year, we're now reliably on pace to complete the remaining goals in 2022 that were first set out in our approved project initiation. Just as importantly, we expect all the grant's intended objectives to be finalized within the allotted budget. From a high-level perspective on our three objectives, most of Objective #1's heavy lifting is complete, although we do expect to refine the ancillary components of what a truly commercialized and scalable production plan/setup would entail. For Objective #2, there's continued sensory work to be done, in addition to further value-added product development (both internally and with others). For Objective #3, we've identified a suitable packaging style and machinery, though still need to assess the shelf life and stability that it renders.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Progress Report Impact Statement: Far too often in today's marketplace, consumers have to choose between affordability and healthiness. Pop Oats was founded on the belief that snacks can be both - and still tasty too - when you start with a great and widely available ingredient like oats. The grant funding we're receiving has been incredibly supportive of our continuing efforts to deliver a first-of-its-kind snack to American consumers. Currently, oats are steel cut, rolled, ground, or processed into flours for other products, as they have been for many decades, though no one has yet devised a way to eat whole oat groats by themselves or on-the-go, an increasingly important attribute for today's snacking consumers. Our product attractively does both while still maintaining affordability. American consumers are growingly gravitating towards crunchy snacks, though no standalone oat products of this nature currently exist. Pop Oats' value-added product - bold and savory flavored crunchy oats - stands to broaden consumers' perception of oats and allow us to launch oats from the breakfast world to the snack universe! Beyond our own offering(s), we anticipate selling our base product to other companies so they can healthily "crunchify" their own existing and new products. Taken together, we hope our efforts can promote increased consumption of this healthy grain that hasn't been seen since the introduction of instant and flavored oatmeal five decades ago. Objective #1: Optimize the final production parameters to create the uniform consistency that's necessary for commercialization - Progress Update & Period Accomplishments: This objective focuses on creating the opportunity for consistency and scalability of our end product - neither existed when we applied for the grant, though both are unequivocally necessary ahead of commercialization. Note: This objective area is (i) technically the most challenging among the three and (ii) now nearly complete at this point of our grant work. Throughout the current reporting period, we continued our work with the modified commercial equipment identified in the prior period. The equipment was initially expected to be both more scalable and cost effective than custom equipment, and recent work with the machine still suggests this to be accurate. While we recently had to modify a few machine components, our work on the primary equipment is now effectively complete. It importantly produces a very reliable final product, and our efforts are now turning to defining and studying supporting equipment that provides the opportunity to further optimize the production process. Key data/takeaways thus far include (i) finalizing the optimal run time of oats through each component of the production process to best ensure final product consistency, (ii) confirming that this production process is ultimately scalable, and (iii) ensuring that future scalability is cost effective enough to preserve the product's overall affordability for American consumers. We've witnessed changes in knowledge, action, and condition thus far for this objective. Change in knowledge derives from optimizing our initial, novel production method for oats. Change in action derives from applying the aforementioned method into reality alongside equipment that importantly supports consistency and later scalability. Change in condition derives from ensuring our initial method's energy efficiency (e.g. ~30% better than traditional production methods) was preserved with the new equipment. Objective #2: Advance value-added processes while making certain to maintain the product's physical characteristics and health/nutrition quality - Progress Update & Period Accomplishments: This objective focuses on expanding consumers' appetite for the product - quite literally - by (i) thoughtfully flavoring the base product to best meet consumers' modern palette and (ii) studying the ability to create healthier versions of two long-popular snacks by substituting in our oats. Both of these are being carefully considered with the goal in mind of not sacrificing the unique characteristics that make our product so enjoyable and healthy in the first place. Note: This objective area was least progressed at reporting period end given still modest COVID challenges for consumer taste-testing; the work is moving along more quickly recently. Although COVID delayed our ability to complete lab analysis and traditional sensory evaluations, we still made progress recently (i) studying and identifying what consumers prioritize most in a snack, (ii) finalizing prospective flavors to test with consumers, (iii) identifying the most suitable flavor application method, and (iv) building relationships with companies that are willing to either try our product within theirs (e.g. oats/chocolate bar) or help formulate and evaluate other value-added ones. Key recent data/takeaways include (i) confirming that our production process doesn't degrade the beta glucan content of the oats, (ii) finding that we meet consumers' needs for three key items in a snack, (iii) understanding the role that flavor mapping can play in determining a flavor lineup that meets the broadest consumer acceptance, (iv) clearly communicating the economics of how our base product can fit into other companies' ingredient supply chain, and (v) identifying a prospective new value-added application. Some of the aforementioned initiatives still require further lab/sensory evaluation, which is currently underway. We've witnessed changes in knowledge and action thus far for this objective. Change in knowledge derives from recasting oats in a new light with our product, and the subsequent recognition that oats can have a larger role in Americans' diets outside of breakfast. Change in action derives from the willingness others have displayed to work with our product to improve their own. Objective #3: Determine the ideal packaging for the Pop Oats snack to maximize both the shelf life and product stability that's delivered to consumers - Progress Update & Period Accomplishments: This objective focuses on providing maximum shelf life and stability for commercialized products that may be anticipated from the prior two objectives. Note: This objective area is well progressed from a knowledge perspective, though still requires further research/testing to confirm findings. Having identified last reporting period that modestly thicker, nitrogen flushed packaging would best preserve the product's integrity and longevity, we more recently focused on building specs for a machine that can reliably and cost effectively meet these packaging needs. We've since found suitable equipment, and the next step involves testing its reliability for the intended function. While our first two objectives are more pioneering in nature, this one offers the least opportunity for changes in knowledge, action, and condition given the relatively progressed science around packaging and shelf life. The goal of this objective was then largely to "do no harm" - that is to say we don't expect packaging to enhance anything per se, though we certainly don't want it to harm our end product(s) between the point of production and consumption.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Our external efforts for this reporting period focused predominantly on extension/outreach with small- and mid-sized businesses, in conjunction with developing a COVID-friendly survey format for targeted groups of prospective consumers (notably those desiring to snack more healthily, though still affordably). While COVID-19 certainly altered our outreach this year, we still made good progress with target audience efforts that support our grant objectives. Four particular areas of success were (i) identifying a dozen chocolatiers that are interested in trying our base product with theirs to create altogether new offerings - for example a healthier version of Nestle's crunch bar with oats instead of crisped rice, (ii) establishing a relationship with a small business that's open to co-developing an initial oat krispie treat - a healthier version of the popular rice krispy treat, (iii) discussing the prospect for a primary ingredient provider's partner company to possibly serve a co-manufacturing role in the future if we're ultimately able to grow the product's sales well enough after its commercialized, and (iv) refocusing our early sensory analysis work to emphasize and better study consumer snacking behavior as it relates to our product before we're able to physically sample in-person once again. Changes/Problems:While two areas of our work have been delayed as a result of COVID-19, we still expect to be able to complete all three of our objectives within the allotted budget (albeit over a longer period of time than first expected). The two areas that have been impacted throughout the pandemic this year are (i) our inability to allow third-party individuals into the USDA's secure facility and (ii) the fact that in-person sensory evaluations for our food product are not allowed on account of safety concerns. The first of these forced us and the USDA technician we've been working since the onset to take on the entirety of work anticipated for the Agricultural Engineer. We've fortunately been able to manage through everything successfully thus far (and have learned an immense amount along the way); both us and the USDA are hopeful that we can see this role through to the end given that may not have much of an alternative. As it relates to sensory evaluations, we were able to pivot our initial survey into an online one. When COVID-19 restrictions relax in 2021, we should still be able to complete the remaining evaluations in-person as first contemplated. That being said, we're currently evaluating contingency plans for how to complete the intended scope of work otherwise if necessary (e.g. sending out curated samples and feedback surveys in lieu of doing everything in-person). What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?While this research wasn't first anticipated to provide much in the means of training and professional development opportunities, a few have materialized as a result of COVID. From a training perspective, COVID restrictions have limited our ability to have an outside, third-party agriculture engineer into the USDA facility for the better part of 2020. We've fortunately been able to train underneath the project's USDA technician to learn and self-perform the extensive equipment retooling that's been necessary. From a professional development perspective, we've had to be adaptable and study new, unique ways to thoughtfully and still reliably perform sensory analysis in a COVID-restricted environment. While we're hoping COVID relaxes soon so we can re-commence efforts, we're contemplating ways to complete the desired scope of work in 2021 via modified means if the situation demands. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Oats may not cross most people's minds as a particularly exciting conversation topic, though we're consistently pleased with the level of interest and engagement we receive from small businesses, consumers, and researchers alike as we share more on our efforts. For a food as longstanding and well-consumed as oats, we're actually quite surprised at how little most folks truly know about the science behind their greatness. While we commonly hear from folks how healthy oats are, surprisingly few know why. That being said, we hope our oat-evangelism is promoting a clearer understanding of oats which ultimately supports future success for both us and broader oat consumption. Beyond that common anecdotal experience, we separately received a writeup in USDA ARS' Tellus platform in October 2020. The article was the third in a series focusing on ways ARS research has led to innovative healthy food products, and we've certainly seen some inbound outreach on our efforts as a result of the article. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The work ahead for us to accomplish our remaining goals in the upcoming reporting period is relatively straightforward and consistent with our approved project initiation. We still expect to ultimately complete all of our grant objectives within the allotted budget - the only area of much uncertainty at this point relates to continuing COVID concerns and the prospect that certain tasks are consequently delayed further on account of safety concerns (e.g. in-person sensory evaluations). From a high-level perspective on our three objectives, we expect to do further equipment retooling (per Objective #1) as the value-add processes, sensory evaluations, and lab analysis components of the other objectives continue. That being said, we believe most of this goal's heavy lifting is behind us. For Objective #2, we've progressed well with its administrative, outreach, and relationship building elements thus far. We now expect to spend more time in value-added product development (both internally and with others), as well as the paired lab/sensory work for resulting products. Although in-person sensory evaluations haven't been allowed in California per COVID restrictions for some time, we're currently evaluating alternative means of completing this work if the situation doesn't abate relatively early in the new year. For Objective #3, we expect to complete lab testing for the varied packaging formats, though we may similarly have to reassess how best to complete this goal's sensory component (similar to Objective #2).
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Progress Report Impact Statement: Far too often in today's marketplace, consumers have to choose between affordability and healthiness. Pop Oats was founded on the belief that snacks can be both - and still tasty too - when you start with a great and widely available ingredient like oats. The grant funding we're receiving has been incredibly supportive of our continuing efforts to deliver a first-of-its-kind snack to American consumers. Currently, oats are steel cut, rolled, ground, or processed into flours for other products, as they have been for many decades, though no one's yet devised a way to eat whole oat groats by themselves or on-the-go, the latter which is increasingly important with today's consumers. Our product attractively does both while still maintaining affordability. American consumers are growingly gravitating towards crunchy snacks, though no standalone oat products of this nature currently exist. Pop Oats' value-added product - bold and savory flavored crunchy oats - stands to broaden consumers' perception of oats and allow us to launch oats from the breakfast world to the snack universe! Beyond our own offering(s), we anticipate selling our base product to other companies so they can healthily "crunchify" their own existing and new products. Taken together, we hope our efforts can promote increased consumption of this healthy grain that hasn't been seen since the introduction of instant and flavored oatmeal five decades ago. Objective #1: Optimize the final production parameters to create the uniform consistency that's necessary for commercialization - Progress Update & Period Accomplishments: This objective focuses on creating the opportunity for consistency and scalability of our end product - neither existed when we applied for the grant, though both are unequivocally necessary ahead of commercialization. Note: This objective area is (i) technically the most challenging among the three and (ii) the furthest progressed objective at this point. Throughout the current reporting period, we worked with the USDA to identify equipment that supports both of these critical areas. While we initially anticipated needing to build custom equipment to meet our needs, we were even better able to find already commercialized equipment that could reliably and affordably be modified for our patent-pending process. Before proceeding forward, we importantly (i) reconfirmed the permissible variance of numerous production parameters, (ii) scoped out our necessary changes relative to the manufacturer's stock design, and (iii) visited an existing installation - albeit tailored to a different use - to run oats on the equipment and make certain no problems would arise. All three tasks went smoothly, and the equipment's early results have been promising. Key data/takeaways thus far include (i) determining the optimized run time of oats through each component of the production process to best ensure final product consistency, (ii) deriving a clear sense that this production process is later scalable, and (iii) ensuring that future scalability will not be prohibitively expensive, which could imperil our ability to maintain the product's affordability. We've witnessed changes in knowledge, action, and condition thus far for this objective. Change in knowledge derives from optimizing our initial, novel production method for oats. Change in action derives from applying the aforementioned method into reality alongside equipment that importantly supports consistency and later scalability. Change in condition derives from ensuring our initial method's energy efficiency (e.g. ~30% better than traditional production methods) was preserved with the new equipment. Objective #2: Advance two value-added processes while making certain to maintain the product's physical characteristics and health/nutrition quality - Progress Update & Period Accomplishments: This objective focuses on expanding consumers' appetite for the product - quite literally - by (i) thoughtfully flavoring the base product to best meet consumers' modern palette and (ii) studying the ability to create healthier versions of two long-popular snacks by substituting in our oats. Both of these are being carefully considered with the goal in mind of not sacrificing the unique characteristics that make our product so enjoyable and healthy in the first place. Note: This objective area is the middle progressed among the three. Although COVID is delaying our ability to complete lab analysis and traditional sensory evaluations, we've made good headway in other areas of this objective during the current reporting period, most notably (i) identifying a flavor provider than can best serve our array of needs, (ii) procuring equipment to test various flavor application methods, and (iii) and establishing relationships with companies that are willing to either try our product within theirs (e.g. oats/chocolate bar) or help formulate and evaluate other value-added ones (e.g. oat krispie treat). While this objective is still underway, key data/takeaways thus far include (i) understanding how best to sustain our organic designation with flavorings, (ii) determining the optimal range for flavor application, and (iii) learning the economics of how our product best fits into other companies' ingredient supply chain - an important aspect of getting them to initially work with our product. Some of the aforementioned initiatives still require further lab/sensory evaluation, which we expect to complete in 2021 as COVID begins to abate. We've witnessed changes in knowledge and action thus far for this objective. Change in knowledge derives from recasting oats in a new light with our product, and the subsequent recognition that oats can have a larger role in Americans' diets outside of breakfast. Change in action derives from the willingness others have displayed to work with our product in an effort to improve their own. Objective #3: Determine the ideal packaging for the Pop Oats snack to maximize both the shelf life and product stability that's delivered to consumers - Progress Update & Period Accomplishments: This objective focuses on providing maximum shelf life and stability for commercialized products that may be anticipated from the prior two objectives. Note: This objective area is the least progressed among the three at this point, though we're confident it can move quickly once the first two objectives near completion and COVID begins subsiding. Throughout the current reporting period, we tested both unflavored and flavored versions of our first-generation product with and without nitrogen flushing, and in varying thicknesses of packaging. We'll ultimately need to test once more after the first two objectives are complete considering that the product may change somewhat between now and then. This will best ensure that whatever product(s) are being considered for commercialization get the benefit of knowing how best to be packaged. All this being said, early data suggests a clear takeaway: the relative cost and complexity of utilizing thicker packaging (4.5mm) with nitrogen flushing is well worth the effort for preserving the product's integrity and longevity (particularly for flavored varieties that are more prone to oxidization). This objective is scientifically most developed and straightforward. For this reason, it will reasonably display the most minor amount of changes in knowledge, action, and condition among our three objectives. This was largely expected considering that our first two objectives are far more pioneering and novel in nature, whereas this one was stated to serve a "do no harm" function - that is to say we don't expect packaging to enhance anything per se, though we certainly don't want it to harm our end product(s) between the point of production and consumption.
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