Taste is king at Genius Gluten Free

Creating good-tasting gluten-free food is the key driver behind product development at Genius Gluten Free, according to founder Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne.

In this exclusive video interview, filmed at this year’s Institute of Food Science & Technology (IFST) Spring Conference, Bruce-Gardyne told Food Manufacture that her products needed to taste as good as their mainstream alternatives, while warning against launching a product without testing the waters first.

She also detailed the challenges faced by the company in trying to produce gluten-free baked goods with the same elasticity and fluffiness expected from traditional bread and still providing products that were low in fat and nutritionally balanced.

Probiotics and prebiotics

“We’ve managed to fortify our breads,” said Bruce-Gardyne. “We’ve made our breads higher in protein, low in carbohydrate. We’ve increased the fibre element and you know we’re also working to add prebiotics and probiotics to some of our products.

“Now we’re working really hard to optimise the value of nutrition for people who are really interested in their digestive wellness.”

Looking to the future, the Genius boss said the next step was to continue improving the nutritional value of the company’s products, as well as increasing distribution in the UK and around the world.

“We send our products across Europe, to Australia, to America and, obviously, we want to expand there as much as we can, but in a way that doesn’t ever compromise the quality of the products we have to make if we’re going to keep happy consumers.”

Meanwhile, click here to watch our exclusive video interview with Food and Drink Federation chief scientific officer and IFST president elect Helen Munday.