Questions related to: Can I eat oats?
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If a product says it is gluten free on the label, but is not listed in the Food and Drink Guide, can I eat it?
Yes. There is a strict law that covers the use of the labelling term gluten free. When you see gluten free on a label, you know these foods are suitable on a gluten free diet.
Why aren't Booth, Budgens, Iceland and Lidl listed in this year's Food and Drink Guide?
We are regularly in touch with these companies but at this time they have been unable to provide us with information on their own brand products. If you would like information on gluten free products sold in these supermarkets, please contact their customer service team directly. If you are unsure whether you can eat a particular product read the ingredients label. For more information on reading labels why not check out our labelling video that is produced with association with the Food Standard Agency.
Booths
0800 221 8707
www.booths.co.uk
Budgens
0844 507 5506
www.budgens.co.uk
Iceland
0800 328 0800
www.iceland.co.uk
Lidl
0800 977 7766
www.lidl.co.uk
Which foods are listed in Section 2?
Section 2 lists supermarket own brand foods made without gluten containing ingredients and have controls in place to minimise the risk of cross contamination with gluten containing ingredients. We have also included a reference list of everyday mainstream brands. These brands produce some products that are made without gluten containing ingredients. You can check these products on our Live Well Gluten Free app, or on our website or call our Helpline on 0333 332 2033.
Why aren’t some manufacturers or brands listed in the Guide?
We have endeavoured to increase the number of products and manufacturers listed in this year’s Food and Drink Guide by contacting over 200 manufacturers and sourcing product information from a third party, Brandbank. By changing the way we collect the information for the Guide we are pleased to list over 20,000 products. If you can’t find a particular brand in the Guide this may be because they have not provided us with information and have not provided information to Brandbank. It might also be because the product contains gluten.
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.
I’m confused by the ‘very low gluten’ label. Can I eat foods labelled as this?
This covers foods containing between 21 and 100ppm gluten.
Specialist substitute products (such as breads and flour mixes) that contain a gluten reduced ingredient (gluten free wheat starch) with a gluten level above 21 and up to 100 ppm may be labelled as ‘very low gluten’. There aren’t any foods currently labelled ‘very low gluten’ in the UK.
The first law around the use of the term gluten free was published in January 2009 and introduced in January 2012. This law is based on the revised international Codex Alimentarius standard for gluten free, published in 2008.
What should I do if my local restaurant hasn’t heard about the law on gluten-free?
Give them more information about the law or pass them onto us and we can help. We have lots of information in our Food Industry Professionals section.
Welsh Assembly Member and Coeliac UK Governor Dai Lloyd asked the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport for a statement on gluten-free prescriptions. What was the response?
Vaughan Gething AM said:
Gluten-free products are an essential part of the clinical treatment of coeliac disease. National prescribing guidance was published in 2013 to support healthcare professionals in the management of patients with coeliac disease. Coeliac UK has supported the development of the guidance including the updated version published in March 2016.
Read in more detail at:
30 June 2017
13 July 2016
www.assembly.wales/en/bus-home/pages/qnr.aspx?meetingid=3617&assembly=5&c=Record%20of%20Proceedings
Can I only eat products listed in the Food and Drink Guide?
No. You do not have to limit yourself to products listed in the Food and Drink Guide.
The gluten free diet is made up of naturally gluten free foods such as fruit and vegetables, meat, fish and poultry, eggs, cream, milk, rice, potatoes, pulses and beans. We do not list every brand of these in the Food and Drink Guide but you can find a list of naturally gluten free ingredients on Page 6 & 7.
Why is dried yeast now listed in the Food and Drink Information Service?
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 in the Food & Drink Information Service that do not contain gluten.