LOOK OUT! Gluten! ITMO University Researchers Bake Hypoallergic Cookies

About 1% of people around the world suffer from gluten intolerance. They cannot eat baked goods that contain this sort of protein because it provokes allergic reactions and a variety of complicated diseases. Grigory Ternovskoy, the head of a small innovative enterprise “Nutritional Technologies”, talked about advantages of alternative baked food and the development of the “Nutritional Technologies”, organized by “Nutritech” together with ITMO University.

It is not obvious that baking process is a result of complicated research. Please tell us about innovative technologies that you apply.

Our activity is more than bakery production. We bake glutenless bread, cookies and cakes for people who suffer from diabetes and gluten-sensitive enteropathy. Our food is free from flour, however it is a basic component of bakery products. I had been developing a variety of recipes for three years. It led to a final product and now we are ready for commercial production. We guarantee that apart from gluten our bread is free from eggs and dairy products.

What do you use instead of these products?

We use rice, buckwheat and maize instead of wheat, rye, oats and barley in order to produce flour. All components are natural. We also use fibers of oat, apple and citrus plants as a basic component. For example, to make oaten fiber one can reprocess it many times.

How do these products taste?

They have the same taste as usual pastries. An ordinary customer who keeps a healthy lifestyle will not feel the difference. We offer four types of products: classic, with raisin, chocolate and oaten. We also sell sugar free products with sweetener for those who suffer from diabetes.

Are gluten free products popular in Russia?

Few of the Russian companies produce them. Almost all gluten free products are imported. That is why we started doing it. Now our goods are very popular. They cost three times cheaper than foreign goods. They are more prevalent in those countries where gluten-sensitive enteropathy diagnosis is widely used. It's still new in Russia

Don`t you think that this “gluten frenzy” was driven by media?

No, I don`t. Some time ago I had some doubt in it but when I started writing my PhD thesis I realized that this disease is very dangerous.

Speaking of innovative business people usually mean IT startups. How do you estimate demand for Russian innovative food products?

We are sure that our products will be popular because modern people realize advantages of gluten free products. However it is very hard to attract investors because they are afraid of financial risks. Our experienced partners work in this field for a long time and now we develop our project together with them. We are going to launch mass production. Moreover, we develop other projects; we produce a variety of mixtures and improvers for B2B market. We have found an investor so this project will be launched next year.

Aleksander Pushkash

News portal editorial office