Opportunities For Growth In Gluten-free Foods

[kenlove]

Opportunities for growth in gluten-free foods

By Lindsey Partos, 28-Jan-2009

New gluten-free rules from Brussels may well incur incremental costs for bakers and snack manufacturers but with one in a hundred UK consumers estimated to be gluten intolerant, unlocking the market for gluten-free products could reap strong financial gains for industry players.

Under the new European Commission regulation (EC) No 41/2009 ushered in through the official journal last week, only foods that contain less than 20 parts of gluten in a million will be allowed to use the term 'gluten-free' on their packaging.

Further, if a product contains a gluten level of 21-100ppm, it will have to be labelled as 'very low gluten' by 2012.

Food manufacturers have previously turned to Codex Alimentarius' standard for gluten-free labelling. In 1981 Codex established the level of gluten permitted in gluten-free products at 200mg gluten/kg or 200 parts per million (ppm): this standard was amended to only 20ppm in July last year.

The passage to full compliance for the new rules from Europe, necessary by 1 January 2012, could necessitate extra costs for manufacturers in particular in terms of re-labelling, that could reach