Gluten-free bakery and pasta products: prevalence and quality improvement

An increasing demand of gluten-free (GF) products is caused by a growing number of diagnosed coeliacs and a consumption trend to eliminate allergenic proteins from diet. Driven by the rapidly growing market, comprehensive understanding of GF products is necessary. The purpose of this review was to concisely present an overview of various approaches to improve physicochemical and sensory qualities of GF bread, cake/muffin and pasta/noodle products. Some novel techniques used in GF products were discussed in this review. These techniques included the use of different alternative flours (including GF cereals, pseudo-cereals, legume flours, fruit and vegetable powders and seafood powders), functional ingredients (including hydrocolloids and gums, emulsifiers, proteins and dietary fibres) and optimal processing (pretreated flour, infrared-microwave combination baking and extrusion cooking). Some recent novel technologies including transgenesis, enzymolysis and fermentation that have been used on GF products were also discussed.