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Will Europe toast GM wheat for gluten sufferers?

Nature Biotechnology volume 34, pages 369–371 (2016)Cite this article

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An Erratum to this article was published on 11 October 2016

This article has been updated

Spanish researchers are testing GM low-gliadin wheat for gluten-allergy sufferers. But stifling EU bureaucracy and adoption challenges may mean an uphill struggle to market. Lucas Laursen investigates.

Low-gluten wheat could also open a new front in the battle for GM food acceptability in Europe. If Europeans are ever going to accept a GM food, celiac-safe wheat may be a good candidate. European consumers accounted for over €1.1 ($1.21) billion of the nearly €1.9 billion worldwide gluten-free food market, according to market research firm Euromonitor International. Global gluten-free bakery sales are expected to grow at >7% annually, the firm predicts. But because this and other efforts to modify wheat involve inserting genetic elements to silence genes, they are subject to a European regulatory process closely tied to anti-GM politics. And even if such legal barriers to marketing are overcome, marketing such a wheat would require not just farmers, but millers, bakers and consumers to be persuaded that it is worthwhile.

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Change history

  • 08 June 2016

    In the version of this article initially published, on p.369, “European consumers” were said to account for “over €1.1 ($1.21) million” of the “nearly €1.9 million worldwide gluten-free food market”; in both cases the figure should have been in billions, not millions. In addition, the opening sentence said “This winter,” but should have read “Soon,” and on p.371, paragraph three, “at a General Mills facility earlier this year,” should have read “in 2015.” The errors have been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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  1. Madrid

    Lucas Laursen

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  1. Lucas Laursen
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Laursen, L. Will Europe toast GM wheat for gluten sufferers?. Nat Biotechnol 34, 369–371 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3533

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