Our News

Gluten Allergen Testing

Fitz Scientific are pleased to advise that we have recently validated a method for gluten determination in food and can now provide analysis of Gluten in a range of food products at our Drogheda laboratory. Using an R5 sandwich enzyme method, we can quantify the amount of gluten in your food products.

EU Legislation (Food Information to Consumers (FIC) Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011) requires that certain allergens including gluten, if present in your product, must be declared on the label of food products sold to customers. Therefore, cereals containing gluten (i.e. wheat, rye, barley and oats) must be clearly highlighted on your packaging.

People with coeliac disease suffer from a permanent intolerance to gluten. Wheat (i.e. all Triticum species, such as durum wheat, spelt, and khorasan wheat), rye and barley have been identified as grains that are scientifically reported to contain gluten. The gluten present in those grains can cause adverse health effects to people intolerant to gluten and therefore its consumption should be avoided by such people.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 828/2014 has set out conditions by which food products can be labelled “gluten-free” or “very-low gluten”. The ‘gluten-free’ statement may only be used where a food product as sold contains no more than 20mg/kg of gluten. The ‘very low gluten’ statement may only be used where a food product as sold contains no more than 100mg/kg of gluten.

With a cert to prove your product is gluten free, the producer may place a gluten free claim on their product. According to the FSAI, a food needs to be tested initially to prove it is meeting those requirements for ‘gluten-free’ products and must document the procedure to ensure no cross-contamination.

The standards set out above apply to food producers selling both prepacked on non-prepacked foods. This includes food sold in restaurants, at deli counters, butchers counters, bakeries and foods sold at local markets. 

For further details or a quotation for gluten testing please do not hesitate to contact our sales team - email sales@fitzsci.ie or call 041 9845440.

Further information:

FSAI: https://www.fsai.ie/business-advice/labelling/labelling-allergens 
EU Regulation 828/2014: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014R0828