FSANZ
Gluten is found in foods containing wheat of all types, but can also be present in foods that contain ingredients that are derived from gluten containing grains – therefore it is not always obvious which foods are gluten-free, and can make food shopping a headache for those on a GF journey.
Thankfully, there are food standards that have been established in order to mitigate this problem. The manufacture of gluten-free products requires that strict processing guidelines must be adhered to, providing a greater ease of mind for coeliac food shoppers.
For food to be labelled as gluten free (in Australia and NZ), there must be no detectable gluten*, nor oats or their products, nor cereals containing gluten that may have been malted, or their products.
*The most widely used and accepted test for gluten in NZ and Australia is the RIDASCREEN ELISA Gliadin kit. This kit has a Limit of Detection (LOD) of 0.5 ppm gliadin (corresponding to 1ppm gluten) and a Limit of Quantification (LOQ) of 2.5 ppm gliadin (corresponding to 5 ppm gluten).
Often a limit of less than 3 parts per million (<3ppm) is referred to as the accepted limit in NZ & Australia. This can be taken to be the 'middle ground' for the LOD and LOQ of the above testing kit. However, current legislation does not refer to any quantifiable limit, only what is stated in Standard 1.2.7 (refer to the right).
Standard: 1.2.7 : Nutrition, Health & Related Claims - relates to Gluten Free labelling on food products.
Schedule 4 - For the food to be labelled as gluten free, the food must not contain -(a) detectable gluten; or
(b) oats or their products; or
(c) cereals containing gluten that may have been malted, or their products.
The Codex Alimentarius
In countries outside of Australia and New Zealand the food safety standard Codex Alimentarius established by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) regulates consumer protection. This standard defines the limit value for gluten – which indicates that a product may only be labelled as gluten free if it contains no more than 20 mg/kg gluten.
Products containing less than 100 mg/kg gluten may be labelled as ‘low gluten’.
Certain foods and ingredients can cause severe allergic and other adverse reactions in some people. The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) requires these to be declared on labels when they are present in food.
On 25 February 2021 the Code was amended to introduce new requirements for the labelling of allergens in food.
These requirements include that allergen information is to be declared:
The changes will help people find allergen information on food labels more quickly and easily, so they can make informed and safe food choices.
Businesses have 3 years from 25 February 2021 to implement the new requirements. During this transition period, food businesses can comply with either the existing allergen declaration requirements in the Code, or the new requirements.
Contains statement
The contains statement is a new requirement. You can no longer use the term ‘Cereals containing gluten’. Instead, in the ingredients list, you need to specify the type of cereal used and bold it. The contains statement should also specify ‘gluten’ or ‘wheat, gluten’ if it contains both.
See here for more detailed information about Plain English Allergen Labelling update.
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