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.

Yes, both sections lists products that are suitable for gluten free diet. Whilst the products listed in Section 2 are not labelled gluten free, the products in Section 2 are made without gluten containing ingredients and the manufacturers have made a risk assessment on cross contamination and have steps to control this. You can view the ingredients list and labelling information for these products on our Live Well Gluten Free app and on our website to help you choose suitable products for your diet. 

Hydrolysed vegetable protein (HVP) can be made from different cereals or soya. If a cereal that contains gluten, such as wheat, has been used manufacturers must list this in the ingredients (for example, hydrolysed wheat vegetable protein) in line with the EU wide allergen labelling law.

All prepacked foods bought in the UK are covered by current EU wide food labelling legislation. This means that if gluten is used as a deliberate ingredient it must appear on the ingredients list, no matter how much is used.

Manufacturers will name the grain, for example, wheat, rye, barley, oats, or some will use the word gluten as well such as wheat gluten. This information must be declared in the ingredients list and emphasised, for example in bold. Read more about the information that manufacturers must provide.

Modified starch is used in many products and can be derived from a variety of sources. If the source is a cereal that contains gluten, manufacturers must list this in the ingredients list in line with the EU wide allergen labelling law, for example modified wheat starch. If you see modified starch on the ingredients list and it does not refer to a cereal that contains gluten, such as wheat, this must be from a cereal that does not contain gluten and is gluten free.

You can find a list of communion wafer suppliers here.

Yes. Whilst the products listed in Section 2 are not labelled gluten free, the products are made without gluten containing ingredients and the manufacturers have made a risk assessment on cross contamination and have steps to control this.

We are highlighting the products that use the Coeliac UK Crossed Grain symbol. Section 1 of this Guide has the symbol next to all products that hold the Crossed Grain symbol licence. New companies are licensed regularly, so don’t forget to check the monthly Food & Drink Guide updates for any additions. You can find a list of all companies using the Crossed Grain symbol on our website here.

The way that people use the Food and Drink Guide varies between individuals. We list the supermarket own brands separately as many members only go to one or two supermarkets and so we list supermarket own brand products together.

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.