New technique to de-glutanize wheat based products-How relevant it is ?

From time to time food fads emerge which is exploited by the processing industry. It was in 1974 when gluten free food concept emerged and such products were offered to those affected by the Celliac disease and by 1994 commercial products started finding a place in the regular markets. Beginning with a humble production during the previous millennium, the market reached an astonishing volume of production valued at $ 860 million in 2004 registering a compounded annual growth of 36%. To day global market is estimated at about $ 4 billion! What is intriguing is that such a production base can meet the needs of existing Celliac patients several times over, obviously highlighting the fad nature of the growing demand. Grains like wheat, Barley, Rye etc have significant amounts of the complex gluten protein which is an essential component for all bakery products including bread, biscuits, pasta, pastry products and many others. The demand for gluten free products has led to innovative efforts to develop technologies that can obviate the need for gluten. But making these flours gluten free is a laborious process involving aqueous process that separates the protein fraction leaving behind a practically gluten free flour. Recent claim by a company in the US that it has a magic mushroom variety which has a voracious appetite for gluten and this can be used to remove practically 100% of the gluten may help the growth of the industry further. Here is a take on this novel development which may have some relevance to the specialty industry that is raking in money through developing a number of gluten free products to the gullible public. 

"A US food technology company has developed a magic mushroom with a twist. Rather than causing hallucinations,these mushrooms remove gluten from wheat - a mind-bending concept in itself. the mushroom reportedly consume the gluten protein, with third-party testing showing that they removed 99.9998% of the total gluten content. The technology is claimed to work by "harnessing the purification properties of mushrooms, which are trained to consume the protein gluten". "The challenge in the growing gluten-free movement is formulating products that have similar flavour profiles and mouth feel to products that are wheat based," said Alan Hahn, CEO and Founder of MycoTechnology, the company that developed the mushroom technology. "Our technology allows consumers the ability to introduce wheat back into their diets with great-tasting products." Several large manufacturers have reportedly begun using the technology to formulate gluten-free products based on wheat."

With only bare details of the process revealed, it is difficult to assess its efficacy or utility under commercial conditions, though the report suggests that several large players are using the technology in their product formulations. Also not clear is the quality of the end products made using the mushroom intervention route as mushrooms do have specific flavor not liked universally. Nonetheless this opens up another avenue to expand production of gluten free flours from grains like wheat to meet increasing demand  by the industry for this critical raw material. An intake of less than 10 mg of gluten is normally allowed in products targeted at Celliac patients and the extraordinary efficiency of the magic mushroom in deglutenization of flours must be music to the ears of this specialty products industry. 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE GLUTEN-FREE PRODUCTS-A MARKET PROMOTED GIMMICK?

Whoever has not heard of Celiac disease which affectes many people who cannot consume foods containing the protein gluten. It is a tragedy that this small segment of consumer community cannot enjoy the pleasure of eating most of the bakery products which are made from wheat flour. Wheat allergy or insensitivity is manifested by the the autoimmune response in the intestine when gluten is ingested in any form with the white blood cells attacking the intestinal lining mistaking it for an invader not to be tolerated by the body. While Celiac disease is a full blown manifestation of gluten intolerance, gluten sensitivity is relatively a minor version tolerable in many cases. American market to day is being flooded with gluten free food products for catering to people with gluten allergy. While the proportion of such people in that country is hardly 0.5% of the population, according to a recent survey more than 11% of the population buy these foods though they do not need them. How can this happen? The promotional power of American food industry can be gauged from this quixotic situation where consumers not needing specialty foods are brain washed into believing that they are good for them! Here is a take on this as reported below: 

'And consumers are responding with gusto. The portion of households reporting purchases of gluten-free food products to Nielsen hit 11 percent last year, rising from 5 percent in 2010. In dollars and cents, sales of gluten-free products were expected to total $10.5 billion last year, according to Mintel, a market research company, which estimates the category will produce more than $15 billion in annual sales in 2016.Launch media viewerMichelle Marinelli and her son, Joshua, of Staten Island, N.Y., shop at a Wegmans market in Woodbridge, N.J. Matt Rainey for The New York Times "I see this as part of the current American concern with digestive health, which is also responsible for the yogurt boom," said Harry Balzer, vice president at the market research company NPD Group, where he has followed the food industry for some 30 years. "About 30 percent of the public says it would like to cut back on the amount of gluten it's eating, and if you find 30 percent of the public doing anything, you'll find a lot of marketers right there, too." Never mind that a Mayo Clinic survey in 2012 concluded that only 1.8 million Americans have celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that causes the body to attack the small intestine when gluten is ingested and can lead to other debilitating medical problems if not diagnosed."

Increasing awareness about health and its relation to the quality of food is a welcome development but illogical misconceptions about the foods offered in the market can lead to distorted response which may not be good for a country. Why should the industry promote gluten free foods in such a massive way? The reason is clear. It is the increased profit generated by such specialty foods which drives the industry to invest in product development continuously. It is a good move basically to develop specialty foods like gluten free ones for those who depend on them for their life sustenance but promoting them as universal foods cannot be justified in any way. If industry cannot self control and self discipline itself the regulators must step in to force it to declare on such products that they are intended for those health compromised people though they may be harmless for others too. 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com