Glutensens
What is Glutensens
- Glutensens is defined as “the device that revolutionizes the way we perceive gluten in our food”. Its goal is to allow, in just a few minutes, to determine if a dish contains gluten, restoring “complete control” over the diet for those who need to avoid gluten.
- It is designed specifically for those who need a gluten-free diet – for example people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity – and to allow them to eat outside the home with greater safety and peace of mind.
How it works – the technology and its use
The Glutensens device includes:
- an “extracting solution” that serves to extract gliadin from the food – i.e. the potentially contaminating protein/gluten;
- a sensor on which the extracted sample is placed;
- a display that shows the analysis result in a few minutes.
L’idea è che sia facile da usare: non serve personale altamente tecnico. Dopo un breve training, anche un ristoratore o operatore di cucina può usarlo in autonomia.
Si sostiene che il biosensore sia in grado di rilevare quantità minime di glutine fino a 20 ppm (parti per milione) – soglia che, secondo gli standard per alimenti “gluten-free”, è considerata il limite massimo di sicurezza.
Anche alimenti complessi e cotti – che sono quelli che causano più problemi con metodi classici – dovrebbero poter essere testati da Glutensens con risultati affidabili.
Mission, objectives and values
- Glutensens’ mission stems from a “real need”: to ensure food safety and peace of mind for those living with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, even when eating out.
- The declared objective is to create an aware community and a future in which “eating is a pleasure, not a worry”.
- Glutensens aims to fill the “trust gap” created by the fact that even with the best care, accidental contamination — such as shared utensils, less-than-perfectly-clean surfaces, and undeclared ingredients — is still possible.
Current status of the project, development and validation
- Glutensens is a startup born in 2023 as a spin-off of the University of Milan.
- In September 2025 it closed a seed round of €1.05 million, led by the Farming Future fund (national agrifood technology transfer hub) with participation of other investors, to develop, validate and start production of the biosensor.
- The technology combines “advanced electrochemistry” and artificial intelligence algorithms; the test results will be digital, archiveable in the cloud, and integrated with the HACCP systems used by restaurants, canteens, laboratories and food industries.
- The validation phase is currently underway: the tests conducted show very promising results. The process, as stated, will need to be certified.
Why it may be important – the impact on the gluten-free world
- The problem of cross-contamination is real and often makes eating out difficult for celiacs: shared surfaces, utensils, undeclared ingredients. Glutensens aims to be a tool to make safety a reality, restoring trust.
- It allows you to break down a barrier: making a meal safe even outside the home, with the result of increasing the freedom and quality of life of people with food restrictions.
- If widespread (restaurants, canteens, industry), it could improve food safety for many people, not just celiacs: potentially for those with sensitivities or intolerances to trace amounts of gluten.
Future prospects and roadmap
- Thanks to the recent funding, Glutensens is moving “from scientific validation to industrial scale”, i.e. preparing for production and diffusion on the Italian market, and (hopefully) beyond.
- Certification of the device and the testing process is expected, together with accreditations from official laboratories, to guarantee protection and reliability.
- In the medium term, Glutensens aims to become part of a “virtuous” network of restaurants, producers and food sector operators who adopt the device to offer safe gluten-free meals.
- Furthermore, there is the idea of eventually extending the platform beyond gluten, perhaps to other allergens or contaminants, with a broader perspective of “real-time food safety”.
