Portal de Cartagena
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Researchers from the Department of Food Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT) have won two patents that lower the cost of industrial production of pre-cooked meals without gluten.
The research was based on the croquettes and pasta dishes: cannelloni, lasagna, spaghetti and macaroni.
Today, the dishes prepared gluten cost twice as conventional and quality improved.
"One of the challenges of the food industry is to lower their costs and improve their taste and nutritional quality to reach growing number of consumers," said Antonio Lopez, responsible researcher.
One of the advantages of the new manufacturing technique croquettes gluten is absorbing half of oil than conventional when fried, "so they are softer and healthier, not empachan and you want to keep eating," says Antonio Lopez.
Another advantage is the quality and taste, which greatly improves over croquettes gluten that are currently on the market.
So they are appealing for any type of consumer, whether or not celiac.
Researchers at the School of Agriculture have achieved an adequate texture in the mass of croquettes to handle industrially.
"The gluten gives strength and consistency to the mass of croquettes, providing a good viscoelasticity when wheat flour is used.
During his industrial production falling dumplings are formed at high speed and if they have the right texture remain flat, as
cookies "López added.
Therefore, researchers have had to replace the wheat flour by rice flour batter, and other components that achieve a similar texture to the dough.
The breadcrumbs of these croquettes are also gluten-free and developed specifically for a breading of adequate quality.
Pasta dishes
The research group has made possible the industrial management of dough gluten sheets.
"The manufacturers made large sheets, which can exceed 15 meters long and 50 centimeters wide and just over 1 millimeter thick and if the mass does not include gluten, break," Lopez explains.
This causes the gluten-free pasta sheets are currently manufactured almost by hand so the prices of the relevant prepared dishes are very high.
With the new technique of industrial production of gluten-free pasta sheets can reduce costs considerably.
Making croquettes and pasta dishes without gluten is focused on frozen ready meals sector, but also can be refrigerated.
Patents called "Composition and method of making breaded foods with low oil absorption during frying" and "Composition and procedure for industrial processing of gluten-free pasta sheets" have been generated in the doctoral thesis defended by Sonia Soto Jover, agronomist and Master of Advanced Techniques in Research and Agricultural Development and Food, qualified with full marks cum laude.
Part of the conclusions of the thesis were published in two prestigious international journals on Technology and Food Engineering: Food Engineering Reviews and LWT - Food Science and Technology.
The research was led by Professor Antonio Lopez Gomez and Arturo have collaborated teachers Iguaz Esnoz and Asuncion, and the researchers Sonia Soto and María Boluda.
Gluten is found in wheat, barley and rye, three foods that are grown from about 10,000 years ago.
In the last decade, the number of people to avoid this protein complex present in cereals is on the rise.
Approximately between 1 and 5% of the population suffers from celiac disease.
Therefore, increasingly, major food manufacturers are changing their recipes to meet this demand.
Source: UPCT
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