Wheat, barley, and rye are leading crops in the worldwide agro-food system. These cereals contain gluten, a valuable protein for both the milling and food industry, due to its unique organoleptic and technological properties. Gluten gives dough its viscoelasticity, and allows for leavening.
However, for people suffering from celiac disease, gluten triggers an autoimmune reaction, causing inflammatory symptoms, destruction of intestinal villi and malabsorption of nutrients. Celiac disease affects 1% percent of the global population, an estimated 70 million people. Furthermore, one third of humanity carries genetic markers that put them at risk of developing the disease.
New Gluten World (NGW) has devised a revolutionary, safe and cost-effective industrial process that turns gluten of cereal grains into a bioactive protein that become easily digestible by human gut microbiota, able to produce positive effects on human health . The method is the result of an advanced biotech research project from the University of Foggia, led by the inventor, Professor Carmela Lamacchia.
NGW’s patented technology, called Gluten Friendly™, will replace the current market approach to celiac consumers, which is focused on designing “gluten free” substitutes, or detoxifying flours with expensive enzymes. This will create a radical shift of paradigm in the milling industry. The Gluten Friendly™ technology is based on a natural, physical-chemical process that reshapes gluten, directly inside the kernel. The temperature-based process maintains all the nutritional, sensorial and mechanical properties of gluten intact.
The Gluten Friendly™ technology will become an engine of social innovation because it will tear down the “Nutritional Divide” that separates people with celiac disease from healthy individuals. In Europe and around the world, celiac disease presents a major social and economic challenge. NGW will tackle that challenge by providing celiac consumers with a safe and more affordable option than a “gluten free” diet. Furthermore, NGW’s gluten temperature-based technology provides a healthy new choice for healthy people, those with gluten sensitivities and for the one third of humanity that carries genetic markers that put them at risk of developing the celiac disease.
Finally, it introduces a new production standard in the milling industry.
The NGW team, comprised of industrial and technological experts, offers milling companies (mostly SMEs) in Europe and around the world, the opportunity to license the gluten temperature-based technology. Through the licensing program, NGW provide SMEs with the necessary know-how to achieve gluten temperature-based technology in cereal grains, as well as rules and guidelines. Thus, reinforcing the leadership of the European agro-food industry, in terms of quality, as opposed to intensive agro-food models from other economic systems.
The market opportunity is enormous, and it is fenced by a patent that extends to 104 countries. NGW has moved from TRL #6 to TRL #8 and #9 in a 24-month time-span. NGW aims at becoming the market leader for industrial, gluten temperature-based process in cereals across all markets – including flours, baked products, pasta, ice-creams, and beer. NGW plans to reach a turnover of more than €100 million by 2023, with an ambitious hiring plan of qualified workers across Europe.
