There are several factors that may influence the price of gluten free food products and Coeliac UK continues to invite those industry partners who have yet to engage with the charity to join with us to tackle this issue. Factors that can influence the price of gluten free food include: 
 
Production: to ensure that gluten free food is produced to a high standard, and with no risk of cross contamination, there are increased costs involved in the production process and the production environment itself. Gluten free production also often requires different machinery and processes in order to mimic the qualities of gluten in bread.  

Batch sizes: gluten free foods are manufactured in smaller quantities as the demand for them is less than that for gluten containing and this has associated increased cost. The smaller the volumes, the larger some of these costs can be. 

Gluten testing: costs are involved in analysing products to make sure the gluten content is below the legal threshold for making a gluten free claim, which is no more than 20 parts per million of gluten. 

Product development: there are challenges to removing gluten from products and manufacturers explore and invest in new technologies, recipes, and methods. 

Ingredients: gluten free products are often made with a larger combination of ingredients, compared with gluten containing equivalents, to achieve the similar product characteristics of those made with the gluten containing grains wheat, barley, and rye, such as bread, crackers and breakfast cereals. These alternative ingredients are generally more expensive, and often have to be sourced from other parts of the world, which influences the cost of the gluten free product. 

Packaging: segregated packaging areas and differences in shelf life also have an impact on cost. 

Transport, distribution and retail: there are a number of further costs associated with getting the product from the factory floor to the supermarket shelf. This includes transport, labour, logistics and supply chain costs.  

For an insight into what goes into manufacturing gluten free staples products, the charity spoke to gluten free manufacturer, Warburtons in our recent blog