On the Ground... 1

On Monday morning four culinary art degree students from Athlone Institute of Technolog launched their new gluten-free range of muffins. The muffins come in three flavours, blueberry, double chocolate, and carrot and orange and are the brainchild of Carol Curran, Richard McCormack, Philip O’Reilly and Laura Cotterill who, as part of their course had to come up with an innovation in food science. The Coeliac Society of Ireland has already agreed to test the products suitability for its members. Coeliac disease,is an intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. When a coeliac eats gluten, the lining of the small intestine becomes damaged, reducing the coeliac's ability to absorb the nutrients which leads to complications if undiagnosed. Carol Curran, a sous-chef at Radisson Blu Hotel in Athlone points out, “Often much of the alternatives for coeliacs taste like cardboard and are not enjoyable. We aim to change that in a small way in producing what we think is a wonderful range of muffins.”