SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) — Australian scientists say they have developed the world’s first World Health Organization-approved gluten-free barley, a breakthrough for global beer manufacturers which have had to use alternatives to barley such as rice and sorghum to brew gluten-free beer.
Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) said it had sold 70 tonnes of the new Kebari barley to Germany’s largest brewer Radeberger, which has produced a beer to be sold in local supermarkets.
“Gluten-free barley will be highly sought after, with European brewers particularly interested,” said John O’Brien, a brewer of gluten-free beer in Melbourne.
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The market for gluten-free products is expected to grow more than 10 percent a year until 2020 to be worth US$7.59 billion, a 2015 report by MarketsandMarket estimated.
European drinkers, already among the world’s largest consumers of beer per capita, have embraced gluten-free more than other regions, brewers said, with several large manufacturers releasing gluten-free brands.
One of the problems brewers have faced in making gluten-free beer without barley, or barley with the gluten stripped out, is that beer drinkers often complain it doesn’t taste like traditionally brewed beer.
“A true gluten-free barley variety is a true game changer, there is going to be a massive market for the product,” said Phin Ziebell, an agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank.
While the new “gluten-free” Kebari barley actually contains minute amounts of gluten, the CSIRO said it had 10,000 times less gluten than traditional strains.
