Reading UK gluten-free labels: "gluten-free", "may contain" and "suitable for coeliacs"

"Gluten-free", "may contain", "suitable for coeliacs": the words on a UK food label mean different things, and only some of them are set by law. This is a plain-English guide to reading them.

This article explains labelling rules. It is not medical advice. If you have coeliac disease, your GP, dietitian and Coeliac UK are the right people to ask about your own diet.

"Gluten-free": a legal limit

In the UK, a food can only be labelled "gluten-free" if it contains no more than 20 mg of gluten per kg (20 parts per million) as sold. The rule comes from retained Regulation (EU) No 828/2014, which still applies in Great Britain.

That 20 ppm limit is the reason the word matters. "Gluten-free" is a claim the producer is responsible for, not a description of the ingredients alone.

"Very low gluten"

A less common claim. It can only be used for foods with no more than 100 mg of gluten per kg and that contain a cereal ingredient specially processed to reduce its gluten, such as a gluten-reduced wheat starch. A "very low gluten" food is not the same as a gluten-free one.

"Suitable for coeliacs"

This phrase may be used alongside "gluten-free" or "very low gluten". It does not set a different standard: it adds information next to one of those two claims.

The ingredients list: look for the cereals in bold

Cereals containing gluten are one of the 14 allergens that must be emphasised in the ingredients list of prepacked food, usually in bold, sometimes in capitals or a different colour. The cereal has to be named: wheat (including spelt and khorasan), rye, barley or oats. The word "gluten" on its own is not enough.

So even on a product with no "gluten-free" claim, the ingredients list tells you whether gluten-containing cereals are in the recipe.

Oats

Oats are listed with the gluten-containing cereals because they are often contaminated with wheat, barley or rye. Oats can appear in a food labelled "gluten-free" only if they have been specially produced to avoid that contamination, and the food still has to meet the 20 ppm limit. Coeliac UK has guidance on oats for people with coeliac disease.

"May contain": a voluntary warning

"May contain gluten", "made in a factory that handles wheat" and similar phrases are precautionary allergen labels. Unlike "gluten-free", they are voluntary and have no legal threshold behind them. A producer uses one when it cannot rule out cross-contact during production.

You will sometimes see "gluten-free" and a "may contain" warning about a different allergen on the same pack. That is not a contradiction: the gluten-free claim covers gluten, and the warning covers something else, such as nuts.

How EverFree labels its products

• Gluten-free: every EverFree product is gluten-free and suitable for coeliacs. None contains wheat, rye, barley or oats.
• Allergens in bold: pistachio in Pistachio & Cocoa, hazelnut in Hazelnut, and milk in our two savoury biscuits.
• Our precautionary statement: "Made in a facility that handles nuts." It is on every pack because nuts are used on site.
• Full ingredients and nutrition are on each product page as well as on the pack.

See the full range: gluten-free cookies, savoury biscuits and baking mixes. More questions are answered in our FAQ.

Sources: retained Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 828/2014 on gluten information (legislation.gov.uk); the Food Standards Agency (food.gov.uk); Coeliac UK.