About NGW

Our food tech startup is a joint venture between inventor Carmen Lamacchia, the University of Foggia and cereal trade giant Casillo Group. NGW debuted on the gluten science scene in 2015, to cary out the industrial scale-up of the Gluten Friendly™ technology. Our technology reshapes gluten through a physical-chemical process that is low-cost and has a low environmental impact. Since our founding, our startup has won numerous awards, and has received European funding through the prestigious Horizons 2020 SME Programme. Our Gluten Friendly™ discovery is patented and protected in more than 100 countries.

The inventor

Carmen Lamacchia, PhD, is adjunct Professor of Food Science and Technology at the University of Foggia, and the inventor of the Gluten Friendly™ technology. As a gluten expert and researcher for 20 years, Prof. Lamacchia is the driving force behind the Gluten Friendly™ research. Lamacchia was the first in her field to observe the unusual behavior of gluten proteins inside burnt wheat kernels. In 2009, she proved that the proteins did not aggregate inside the seed, even under extreme temperatures - the opposite of what happens to proteins in dough when it is baked into bread. So she set out to test a radical hypothesis: could gluten proteins be reshaped into a new molecular structure through strong heat, without damaging core properties of wheat? The Gluten Friendly™ process intervenes on gluten proteins inside the kernel, molding the proteins into a new shape, while keeping all the precious sensorial and technological properties of gluten.