The consumption of artisanal and organic pasta made on-farm from ancient varieties is increasing in France. Some people, namely, those suffering from digestive disorders following the consumption of industrial pasta, consider these artisanal pasta to be more digestible. Most of them have linked these digestive disorders to the ingestion of gluten. We analyzed in this study the impact of industrial and artisanal practices on the protein quality of durum wheat products. The varieties recommended by the industry (IND) were compared to those used by farmers (FAR): the FAR being on average much richer in protein. However, the solubility of these proteins analyzed by Size Exclusion-High Performance Liquid Chromatography (SE-HPLC) and their in vitro proteolysis by digestive enzymes vary little between the two groups of varieties, while differences between varieties in each group are observable. The location of grain production and the tested cropping systems (zero vs. low input) have a low impact on protein quality. Yet, more contrasting modalities should be studied to validate this point. The type of production process (artisanal vs. industrial) is, among those studied, the factor having the greatest impact on protein compositionPasta produced by the artisanal method contains a higher sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-soluble protein fraction and are more in-vitro proteolyzed. Whether these criteria are indicative of what happens during a consumer's digestion remains to be determined. It also remains to be assessed which key stages of the process have the greatest influence on protein quality.
Keywords: ancient variety; digestibility; farming system; gluten; participatory research; pasta making process; protein; semolina.