Restaurant..... Takeaway.......pub???
Eating out for coeliacs can be a veritable nightmare as there is no legislation requiring the likes of restaurants to show which items are gluten free. A good food service provider will be aware of the need to cater for allergies, but not all food establishments recognise fully what gluten free means or the importance of taking care to avoid cross- contamination.
Labelling issues on food is however covered by Codex Alimentarius. This is an international organisation who help to develop food standards and guidelines.The law governing this is the European Regulation (EC 41/2009) . Currently there are two categories of gluten free:
It is advisable that before travelling to an eating in or out venue that you phone the business and make sure they fully understand what gluten is and are able to prepare the food in a safe environment; with regards to cross contamination. Any responses of "What is gluten?" should make you wary! Many places are now purporting to offer gluten free food. Some of these offer popular dishes such as fish & chips.
It is important in these cases to be fully aware of possible cross contamination issues in the preparation and cooking of the dish. If in doubt always ask if, for example, the non gluten fish or chips are fried separately and generally make sure that you are confident in the staffs knowledge of the issue. A good catering establishment will be happy to inform you which type of flour is used in the batter if you ask.
References
COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 41/2009 of 20 January 2009
concerning the composition and labelling of foodstuffs suitable for people intolerant to gluten
Labelling issues on food is however covered by Codex Alimentarius. This is an international organisation who help to develop food standards and guidelines.The law governing this is the European Regulation (EC 41/2009) . Currently there are two categories of gluten free:
- Foods that do not contain more than 20 parts of gluten or less per million (ppm). These would be regarded as "Gluten free"
- Foods that have 21-100 ppm are considered as being "Very low gluten"
It is advisable that before travelling to an eating in or out venue that you phone the business and make sure they fully understand what gluten is and are able to prepare the food in a safe environment; with regards to cross contamination. Any responses of "What is gluten?" should make you wary! Many places are now purporting to offer gluten free food. Some of these offer popular dishes such as fish & chips.
It is important in these cases to be fully aware of possible cross contamination issues in the preparation and cooking of the dish. If in doubt always ask if, for example, the non gluten fish or chips are fried separately and generally make sure that you are confident in the staffs knowledge of the issue. A good catering establishment will be happy to inform you which type of flour is used in the batter if you ask.
References
COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 41/2009 of 20 January 2009
concerning the composition and labelling of foodstuffs suitable for people intolerant to gluten
