What Caterers should know about Cereals containing Gluten

As you probably know, on 1 March 2020 we made some important changes related to the ‘Cereals’ attributes and the ‘Gluten’ attribute on the Erudus platform.

We also know that in this case there may still be some confusion around the difference between ‘Does not contain Gluten’ and ‘Suitable for Coeliacs’ (part of the reason we made the changes in the first place).

So we’ve put together this handy cheat sheet telling Caterers everything they need to know…

The Myth around Cereals containing Gluten

It is common to believe that if a recipe or food product’s ingredients don’t contain ‘Cereals containing Gluten’ you can assume these ingredients are gluten-free.

This might lead Caterers to believe you can safely advertise to, and inform your customers, that the product or recipe is ‘Suitable for Coeliacs’.

You would be wrong…

The Reality

A food product can only be labelled ‘Suitable for Coeliacs’ if it has been verified by a method such as lab testing or testing within production facilities, and the results state that it is indeed ‘Suitable for Coeliacs’.

This is not the same thing as a product stating it ‘Does not contain Gluten’ in the ingredients.

If you are presenting a food item or recipe to your customers as ‘Suitable for Coeliacs’ you must ensure that all ingredients in it are also labelled ‘Suitable for Coeliacs’.

This is because products that are labelled as ‘Does not contain Gluten’ sometimes do contain very small traces of gluten.

Why have we made these changes now?

We have made these changes in order to help Manufacturers to adhere to legislation – these changes will bring us in accordance with the FSA’s best practices, ready for Natasha’s Law which will be implemented from October 2021. Doing this now gives us all time to adjust.

We also believe that these changes will be beneficial to Caterers, as they provide more clarity about a product’s ingredients and claims, which means Caterers can be more confident and accurate in the information they are supplying to their own customers.

Want more help?

You can see the changes on Erudus to Cereals containing Gluten in action here, and watch our Tips & Tricks video on the subject.

For more in-depth information you can read the release notes to the changes here.

For more information on FSA best practices when it comes to Cereals containing Gluten click here.

And if you need help implementing these changes feel free to contact our support team at support@erudus.com or by phone on 0333 121 89 99.