Focus on gluten free biscuits: Ingredients and issues

Background Around 1% of world population is affected by celiac disease. Celiacs are constrained to follow a strict gluten free (GF) diet. Often their diet is unbalanced and lacks in many nutrients. In recent years, some breakthroughs have been made but there is still the need to provide better quality products to celiac people. Biscuits represent a good vehicle to distribute nutrients to celiac patients, because they are a convenient food appreciated by all groups of population. In addition, it is easier to produce gluten free biscuits than gluten free breads. Compared to bread, gluten plays a minor role in biscuits so a wider variety of flours might be employed. Scope and approach This paper focuses on the possibility to use alternative flours to rice and starches flours which may be employed in GF biscuits production. Furthermore, a discussion about technological, sensory and nutritional issues has been carried out. Moreover, to evaluate the composition of commercial GF biscuits, the frequency of occurrence of ingredients on the label of 282 biscuits present on Italian market is included as case study. Key findings and conclusions Many research showed that it is possible to formulate acceptable GF biscuits using alternative flours from cereals, pseudocereals and legumes, that may also enhance the nutritional quality, the antioxidant activity and the glycemic index of the biscuits. Malting, fermenting and germination can improve the overall quality of biscuits without affecting negatively technological properties. In Italian gluten free biscuits, maize starch and rice flour are the most frequent ingredients whereas alternative flours are still little employed.