Miller Magazine Issue 110 / February 2019

59 COVER STORY MILLER / FEBRUARY 2019 and rice, and (extruded) snack foods product segments. According to Euromonitor, gluten-free products play an important role, particularly in the Western European markets, for example Italy (with a share of 13%), the United Kingdom (9%) and Germany (8%) as well as the US market (24%). For Germany, the sales figures for gluten-free pro- ducts in the food retail sector (including drug stores) have doubled in the last three years from 89 million in 2015, to 134 million in 2016, and finally to 174 million in 2017 (Source: Statista 2016 and 2018). At the same time, GfK ConsumerScan has determined a household-related market penetration of 14% for 2017, with young people in particular being “extensive gluten-free buyers” with purchase motives largely be- yond medical dietary requirements. Gluten-free products play a special role in product innovations in the context of “free-from” claims, as re- vealed by research conducted by the market research firm Mintel in 2016: In Germany, 11% of all newly im- ported foods and drinks were labeled as “gluten-free” (Austria, 11%; Switzerland 6%) – almost twice as many as in reference year 2011 with a share of 6%. And pro- duct developers are setting their sights on laboratory analytics for the “gluten-free road” to innovative re- cipes. Challenges of “Gluten-Free” Rheology When it comes to developing gluten-free products, rheology plays a key role in terms of the quality of the end products – from bread and baked goods, to pasta to snack products. This is because viscoelastic doughs cannot be produced without gluten and its structu- re-forming properties. Therefore, attempts to mimic the rheology of wheat doughs are usually based on rice flour, corn flour, corn starch or potato starch. There are also other gluten-free ingredients in product develop- ment, such as millet, pulses (peas, lentils, soy, etc.) or pseudo-cereals (amaranth, quinoa, etc.). Gelatinization properties are crucial in starch-based recipes. Brabender’s Viscograph-E, a standard instru- ment which has been used worldwide for decades, pro- vides a complete picture of the gelatinization behavior Gluten-free snack products, breakfast cereals, flatbreads, pastas, purees, confectionery products, pet food, and other extruded products can be produced on a laboratory scale with Brabender single or twin screw extruders.