There are companies that produce testing kits to test the level of gluten in ready prepared foods.

These tests are marketed for testing meals in restaurants and can detect a level of gluten of 20 parts per million or less. 

Reliability of these kits should always be considered, not because the kits do not do what they are reported to do, but because the user may not maintain control of the conditions needed for accurate testing. For example, testing a small sample of a certain meal will not necessarily represent the gluten content of the complete meal. It is also important to make sure that all gluten is extracted from a food before testing using the chemicals provided. It is therefore very important to follow the manufacturer's guidance on using the test kits.

More information about testing food and auditing requirements can be found over on our Food Businesses page.

The Vegetarian Chapter contains gluten free foods that are suitable for a vegetarian diet. Some products may also be suitable for a vegan diet, please refer to the manufacturer.

Section 1 lists foods that are gluten free. They contain gluten at a level of no more than 20 parts per million (ppm). Products listed here comply with the law (European Regulation EU 828/2014). Foods in this section are tested to make sure they are gluten free.

You will find the following types of foods in Section 1:

• specialist, substitute foods:
• foods carrying the Coeliac UK Crossed Grain symbol
• some mainstream foods that are labelled gluten free.

• on prescription
• in the Free From section of the supermarket

Manufacturers sometimes change their ingredients without notifying us. Please contact us on 0333 332 2033 and select option 2 so that we can investigate. To be able to investigate your query we will require the following information: brand and product name, pack size, barcode number and the nature of your query e.g. may contain statement, contains wheat etc.

Fresh yeast is naturally gluten free. We are now aware of some brands of dried yeasts that now contain wheat starch in the ingredients so they are not gluten free. We therefore now list dried yeasts on our Food and Drink Information Service that do not contain gluten.

You can find a full transcript of the debate here.

The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health committed to completing a review of the issue within six months of the debate, which was held on 1 November 2016. The Department of Health consultation was issued on 31 March 2017. Coeliac UK was not contacted during the intervening period. 

Although it was suitable in the past, since 2016 Marmite is no longer suitable for a gluten free diet as it contains more than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten.

Yeast extract (which Marmite is made from) can be made as a by product of bread, wine and beer making. Although the ingredient and manufacturing processes have not changed, recent information received from the makers of Marmite indicates that despite thorough washing, it contains slightly more than the 20 ppm gluten standard, now defined by law.

If in the past you have included Marmite in your gluten free diet, it is highly unlikely that it will have been harmful as it is usually only consumed in small amounts.

You can contact the Unilever Careline on 0800 010 109 directly if you would like to speak to someone about the suitability of Marmite.

Please see our Food and Drink Information or our app for alternative yeast extract products which are suitable for a gluten free diet.

We do not have gluten levels for the products in Section 2. The products in Section 2 are not specialist products and the manufacturers do not provide test results. They do not contain any gluten in the ingredients list. Manufacturers follow advice from the Food Standards Agency on assessing and managing the risk of cross contamination with allergens including gluten containing cereals.

If you are unsure whether you can eat a particular product you can check the label. For more information on reading labels please visit www.coeliac.org.uk/labels.

There are a number of supermarket own brand cereals which contain small amounts barley malt extract.

Foods that contain small amounts of barley malt extract can be eaten by people with coeliac disease if they contain 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten or less. Cereals which contain barley malt extract will still have to highlight barley in the ingredients list due to labelling laws, and you won’t be able to tell how much has been used from the list alone, unless the product is labelled gluten free.

Previously we would list some supermarket own brand breakfast cereals which contained barley malt extract in our Food Information listings if we’d received confirmation that the product contained 20 ppm or less of gluten. Under our new policy, we are asking food manufacturers who produce products made with ingredients from gluten containing grains, such as barley malt extract to not only confirm to us that their products have been tested and shown to have no more than 20 ppm gluten, but also to label them gluten free. In the absence of a gluten free label they will no longer be included in our Food Information listings. We are continuing to engage with manufacturers to achieve a commitment to enable these products to be labelled gluten free in the future.

Some retailers have their own Free From breakfast cereals these can be found over on our online Food and Drink Information page and dedicated ready made lists for gluten free breakfast cereals.