Recently, Chorchaiwat Industry Company Limited, a starch-processing company, introduced its new product, Sava flour, to the Thai market. Sava flour is gluten free all purpose flour made from cassava and can be used for baking and cooking. The manufacturing process for this novel product was developed by researchers from BIOTEC and Kasetsart University.

As it is made from cassava, a GMO free crop in Thailand, Sava flour is free of gluten, grain, nut and dairy. Thus, this premium cassava flour is suitable for people suffering celiac disease and health conscious consumers. The flour has natural light yellow color and neutral flavor. It is easy to use in recipes in place of traditional grain-based flours or gluten-free flour blends.

Chorchaiwat Industry has been in the business of manufacturing and selling cassava starch for over 60 years. As the bakery market in Thailand has progressively expanded, the company found an opportunity to introduce a gluten free product produced from a local cash crop in the market. Chorchaiwat Industry, therefore, received the license of cassava flour manufacturing technology from NSTDA and became the first Thai company to launch the gluten free all purpose cassava flour in Thailand. The company also gained support from NSTDA Innovation and Technology Assistance Program (ITAP) to develop recipes for using Sava flour in bakery products including cookies, brownies, cakes, muffins, pancakes, and waffles.

The production technology of cassava flour is a mechanized process of which bitter cassava containing high levels of toxic cyanide can be processed into high quality cassava flour with less than 10 ppm cyanide content. This technology can be implemented in the cassava starch factory with some process modifications, enabling the factory to diversify its products and keep the production cost competitive. The conversion to premium cassava flour significantly adds value to the bitter cassava.