The Coeliac Society of Australia was formed to provide a forum to promote the national welfare and uniformity of purpose and objectives of the state coeliac societies throughout Australia.
They provide information and support to those diagnosed with coeliac disease and their families, sufferers of dermatitis herpetiformis and those medically diagnosed as requiring a gluten free diet.
So why did they stop listing a commercial food list?
When someone is first diagnosed as requiring a gluten free diet, the first thing they want is a list of acceptable gluten free foods – a commercial food list.
For many years the Coeliac Society prepared a food list for its members.
However, some time ago a decision was made to discontinue this list and prepare the ingredient list booklet.
In their “The Australian Coeliac” magazine they listed the reasons for this decision.
• Preparation of a commercial food list is a very time consuming activity. It can take over two years.
• The list was always limited to those companies who were prepared to give us the information. This limited the food choices available to members.
• Manufacturers can be very conservative in their advice on which products are gluten free. Products containing ingredients from a gluten source which we know to be gluten free (eg. glucose from wheat) were sometimes withheld from the list.
• Within a very short time, and sometimes even before publication, some of the information was out of date. New products are introduced onto the market and some withdrawn. A manufacturer can change the formulation and replace a gluten free ingredient and we may not be informed. Members could then be consuming products that are not recommend for their diet.
Learning the language of reading product ingredient labels enables a wide range of food choices to be made confidently in all locations in Australian and New Zealand.
When new products appear, The Coeliac Society have the knowledge to determine whether they are gluten free or not.
It is certainly harder and takes much longer to shop when a person is first diagnosed; however in the long run it gives you the power to control your condition.
There is no need to ring manufacturers and no need for a commercial food list. It does mean the Society receives a constant stream of enquiries regarding labelling issues, many of which relate to trying to interpret information from manufacturer’s consumer help lines.
With the requirement to declare allergens (including gluten), their knowledge has now been enhanced and the product range available to us vastly increased.
Regards
Paul Smith
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