Coeliac UK can help by providing you with the latest information on the gluten free market, legislation, labelling, quality control and gluten testing.

We produce a range of resources for people on a gluten free diet which have a wide variety of opportunities for promoting your business to your target market.

You can find out more about how Coeliac UK can help make your gluten free business a success here.

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.

Oats do not contain gluten. They contain a similar protein called avenin and research has shown that most people with coeliac disease can safely eat avenin.

The main problem with a lot of the oats and oat products that you find in the supermarket is that they are very often contaminated with gluten from wheat, rye or barley during processing (such as harvesting or milling). Therefore, oats that are NOT labelled as gluten free should always be avoided.

Many specialist manufacturers now produce gluten free oats. 

If you have an ongoing symptoms or any concerns about including gluten free oats in your diet, please speak to your health professional.  

Cider, wine, sherry, spirits, port and liqueurs are gluten free.

Distilled spirits only contain gluten if gluten containing ingredients are added after the distillation process. In this case, there is labelling legislation that ensures the product label clearly states if wheat, barley, rye or oats have been added.

Distillation involves prolonged heating to produce a vapour and different components will vaporise at different temperatures so they can be separated. The vapour is then collected and cooled to form a distillate (liquid alcoholic drink). 

Gluten does not form a vapour so even if the starting ingredient is wheat, barley or rye, gluten does not pass into the final distilled liquid.  

Drinks with an alcoholic strength by volume (abv) of more than 1.2% do not have to list all ingredients. If they contain an allergen (including gluten containing cereals) they must declare this on the packaging, for example ‘contains wheat’.

An exception, is if the name of the drink contains the name of the allergen, for example ‘wheat beer’, then a statement, ‘contains wheat’ is not required. It should however be clear on the packaging which allergens are present.

Beer, lagers, stouts and ales are not distilled and undergo a different process known as fermentation and contain varying amounts of gluten and are not suitable for a gluten free diet but there are gluten free options available.

There are two types of gluten free beer, naturally gluten free beer and gluten removed gluten free beer. For both types, by law, manufacturers can only label a beer gluten free if it contains 20 ppm or less of gluten. In addition, a gluten removed gluten free beer made from barley must, by allergen labelling law, state on the label that it ‘contains barley’. For more information about fermented,  hydrolysed products please read our article.

Specially manufactured gluten free beers, lagers and ales are available and are listed in Section 1 of our Food and Drink Guide, in our Live Well Gluten Free app and online Food and Drink Information.

Alcohol can have side effects whether or not you have coeliac disease.  Information on sensible drinking can be found on the NHS website.

More information on alcohol can be found on our website.

Find out more about analysis of gluten in fermented and hydrolysed GF products here.

This information is based on the advice of our Food Standards Committee, Health Advisory Council and/or the Prolamin Working Group

The term 'gluten free' implies no gluten, but in practice it is not possible to test for a zero level of gluten.

Research has shown that people with coeliac disease are able to safely tolerate a very small amount of gluten. As a result low levels of gluten (below 20 parts per million) are allowed in products that are labelled gluten free.

For more information visit our gluten free and the law page. 

If your products meet our criteria they could either be listed in our Food and Drink Guide which holds around 12,000 products or within our online Food and Drink Directory.

The Guide is printed annually with updates on a monthly basis including new and de-listed products and the Directory is updated on a daily basis. Inclusion is free of charge.

Please contact fdd@coeliac.org.uk for more information on how to submit your products.

No. Chinese soy sauce is traditionally made with wheat, which makes it unsuitable for people with coeliac disease. If wheat flour has been used as an ingredient, this must be listed on the ingredients list. Gluten free versions are available in the 'Free From' section of most major supermarkets. There are also some types of tamari soy sauce which are suitable. These are listed on our online Food and Drink Information Service.

Whey is produced from milk and does not contain gluten.

In England, health policy is localised and in the last 12 months we have taken legal action where a CCG policy presented a blanket ban on gluten free prescribing. Once the results of the consultation are known we will consider next steps. The grounds for making a legal challenge may be very restricted if the implementation of change follows the law on the required consultation approach and appropriate changes in the regulations.