The word gluten isn’t considered to be mandatory information, it is the cereal (wheat, rye, barley, oats) that contains gluten whichmust be emphasised. Within the ingredients the word gluten can still be used, for example, wheatflour (gluten) or wheatflour (gluten) could be used, but it is the grain that must be emphasised. As it is now, the use of the word gluten is voluntary so some manufacturers will continue to do this.

Yes. Defra (Department for Food and Rural Affairs) held a public consultation on the Food Information Regulations at the beginning of 2013. Coeliac UK responded to the consultation and highlighted that although introduced as voluntary information, allergy advice boxes provide a useful way of highlighting the presence of deliberate allergenic ingredients in pre-packed food. Consumers are used to referring to these as a quick guide and for many people the allergy box is seen as an effective and instant way of indicating presence or absence of gluten in foods, rather than reading through the ingredient list.

We have worked with the Food Standards Agency and other parties to try and get a standardised approach for allergy boxes used by all the retailers and major manufacturers. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has produced guidance for all its Members in an effort to get a consistent way of labelling. This will hopefully mean that most labels will look the same and allow consumers to get used to the changes.

Read the guidance.

The Regulation means that allergy boxes will no longer be allowed as they are a repetition of mandatory allergy information. Because the information about allergens has to be emphasised in the ingredients list, manufacturers will not be allowed to repeat this information in an allergy box. Information on contamination risk like ‘may contain gluten’ statements will still be allowed. The reason for not allowing repetition is because this increases the chance of having to recall a product when information does not match up.

The new Regulation has brought big changes to the way restaurants provide information about allergens in the meals they serve. Caterers have to provide allergen information for all meals they serve. This means if a recipe uses cereals containing gluten such as wheat, rye, barley or oats in the ingredients, they must be able to provide this information to you. Allergen information for non-prepacked food can be provided in written or oral formats. Where the information is not provided upfront and in writing, there must be clear signposting to where the information can be found.

The Food Information Regulation introduces a minimum print size for information written on pack which will make it easier to read labels. In terms of allergen information, the main changes are to the ingredients list and allergy box. Manufacturers must list all ingredients as they do now but must emphasise allergens (including the grains wheat, rye, barley and oats). Most manufacturers and retailers are using bold lettering. If wheat, rye or barley have been used as deliberate ingredients they must be emphasised in the ingredients list and not in an advice box. You will still see an advice box on some foods to show whether a food may contain wheat, rye, barley or oats because of contamination.

We will keep you updated on this page, in Crossed Grain magazine and in our electronic newsletters.

The Food Standards Agency have information on their website: www.food.gov.uk/science/allergy-intolerance/label.

They have also produced a leaflet for consumers which you can download here: http://food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/publication/allergy-leaflet.pdf.

The European Commission published the Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EU FIC) to simplify European food labelling. The regulation combines rules on general food and nutrition labelling into a single EU regulation.