Food News

AESAN (Agencia Española de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición) has published a Guide for labelling foods containing cereals with gluten.

Gluten is a protein fraction present in cereals such as wheat (including species such as spelt and khorasan), rye and barley. According to Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, it is mandatory that products containing cereals with gluten as ingredients clearly indicate this on their label. The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) has recently published the "Guide to the labelling of foods containing cereals with gluten: rules for information on the presence or absence of gluten". This guide is aimed at manufacturers and aims to provide clear guidelines on how to inform consumers about the presence or absence of gluten in food products. The guide reviews the permitted statements about the absence of gluten and the appropriate use of these statements on the label, in order to avoid misleading the consumer. It also addresses the use of precautionary statements, such as "may contain traces of gluten", and emphasises the need to use them only when there is a real risk of cross-contamination that cannot be avoided.

Finally, it makes special mention of oats, as it is a cereal that may contain gluten due to cross-contamination, and there are oat products specifically processed to be gluten-free.

YOUR PLUS:The food laboratories of the AGROLAB GROUP analyse the presence of gluten in food. In addition, our Spanish laboratory is recognised by the Federation of Celiac Associations of Spain (FACE).

Author: Dra. Isabel Gómez, AGROLAB Ibérica