Excuse me waiter, there's gluten in my gluten free meal!

Gluten Free foods are everywhere these days, but do you know the difference between gluten free and low gluten? How much gluten, if any, is safe for a Celiac sufferer to eat? Find out here!

An estimated 1 in 70 Australians suffer from Coeliac disease (coeliac.org.au). There is currently no known cure for coeliac disease, and adhering to a strict gluten free diet is the only way to manage the symptoms. According to the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center, the most sensitive coeliacs sufferers have their disease activated with 10mg of gluten in one day. At 100mg per day, all celiacs are activated. For perspective, a gluten-free food that has less than 20ppm (20mg per kilogram) of gluten would require you to eat 2 pounds (907g) of it in one day to reach a significant amount of gluten in your system to trigger the disease.

 

What does gluten free actually mean?

There are more and more foods on the market now that are labeled ‘gluten-free’ or ‘low-gluten’, but what does this label actually mean? In the UK, US and Europe, a product can be labeled gluten free (and safe for coeliacs) if it has less than 20ppm of gluten.

In Australia, for a food to be labeled gluten free, it has to have no detectable gluten. That means any gluten free foods sold in Australia have less than 3ppm (the current detectable level) of gluten. Australia’s gluten free standards are some of the strictest in the world!
 

                                                                    

What's the difference between gluten free and low gluten?

You’ll notice some of our foods are labeled as low gluten. In Australia and New Zealand, a food must test at lower than 20ppm to qualify as low gluten - which, funnily enough, the rest of the world considers this level as gluten free! 

We have some amazing gluten free and low gluten brands on offer, which have all passed our own ‘would I feed this to my family’ test. Check out some of these amazing brands, including Food To Nourish, an Aussie brand started by a nutritionist to create delicious, organic gluten free goodies without any nasties. Profusion has a range of delicious, high protein grain free pastas, and Amisa organic gluten free crispbreads and falafel mix are fan favourites around the First Ray office.

So, whether your customers suffer from coeliacs disease, or are sensitive to gluten, you can rest assured that all of our gluten free (and even the low gluten) ranges are not only delicious, but are certified tummy safe! You can check out our full selection of gluten free goodies here, or shop by other values using our shop by values option in the menu.