Frontier IP Group Plc (LON:FIPP) shares moved up in early trading after a consortium led by its portfolio firm Nandi Proteins won a grant to improve the quality of gluten-free bread.
The investment firm, which specialises in commercialising university-developed technology, said the £250,000 project to create new ingredients using Nandi’s processing technology would receive a £180,697 grant from charity Coeliac UK and agency Innovate UK.
READ: Frontier IP company lands £400,000 government grant
The consortium includes two food companies, gluten-free specialist Genius Foods and ingredients firm AB Mauri, part of FTSE 100 firm Associated British Foods plc (LON:ABF), as well as UK agronomy firm Agrii, a subsidiary of agri-services group Origin Enterprises PLC (LON:OGN).
The project will see Heriot-Watt University, which will provide the food science research facilities, spin out Nandi and use its technology to create protein concentrates from natural raw materials supplied by Agrii aimed at forming a gluten substitute for use in bread.
These materials include faba beans, a naked oat variety with high protein content and rapeseed press cake (the residual seed material left once the oil has been extracted) currently used as animal feed.
Genius Foods and AB Mauri will then test the ingredients, adapt their bread formulations, and assess commercial feasibility.
Gluten, a protein found in wheat flour, is the main reason for bread dough's strength and elasticity. However, people with coeliac disease, a lifelong autoimmune condition, must have a gluten-free diet.
Neil Crabb, chief executive of Frontier IP, said the involvement of Nandi’s consortium partners “represents very strong validation for Nandi's novel technology”.
He added that replacing gluten was only one of the “many potential applications” of the technology.
“Others include replacing a wide range of additives, sugar and fat in a whole host of processed foods, from cakes to meats."
Shares were up 1.8% at 83p.