• allergies
• AlpiPan
• food innovation
• functional products
• gluten
• Gluten-free
• market

This work focuses on a particular category of functional products: the gluten-free products. They are the only resource for those who suffer from celiac disease and so have to follow a gluten-free diet. Aside from this aspect, the gluten-free products are also consumed by other categories of consumers. The gluten-free products, like all of the functional products, are perceived to be healthier than their counterparts. For this reason the market for gluten-free products has grown rapidly and is going to double in the next few years, as some previsions said.
In this examination of the gluten-free products we start from defining the celiac disease, then we study the regulatory framework at European level and we analyze the gluten-free market. Finally we analyse an example of a SME that produces and sells gluten-free products in Europe: AlpiPan.
By doing this overview on the gluten-free products, we try to keep in mind a question: Do we have to consider the gluten-free market growth simply a fad?