The Food List is indispensible for shopping and is free for all members. It’s a comprehensive list of suitable manufactured products on sale in Ireland and many members refer to it as their 'Coeliac Bible'.

Why you need it

It’s not enough to just read labels checking for ingredients that contain gluten. Food can get cross-contaminated during the manufacturing process. The Food List team work with manufacturers and supermarkets investigating products to make sure they comply with the standards for ‘gluten-free’ and ‘very low gluten’ foods and that no cross-contamination is occurring during the manufacturing process.

Staying up to date

The Food list is published once a year however products within the list are subject to change so you need to stay on top of updates. Updates are issued on the website, through the monthly e-zine and on a recorded message that plays on the office phone after 6pm. As well as using the Food List always read labels as manufacturers may change ingredients without informing the society. The Food List also contains information on basic ingredients and vitamins and medication.

Watch Out

There are some types of products which you may not realise could contain gluten. It is particularly important to read the label and check the Food List. Gluten may be an ingredient in manufactured and processed foods where wheat flour or barley derivatives are commonly used as a processing aid or a binder, a filler or as a carrier for flavourings and spices. Some examples are listed below. Any ingredients containing gluten must be marked on the label.

• Sausages, burgers and processed meat where flour may be used as a binder.
• Cereals where the main ingredient may be gluten-free (eg corn flakes or rice cereals) but malt extract or malt flavourings, both based on barley, are used in the flavouring.
• Stock cubes, soy sauce, gravy, sauces and salad dressings where flour may be used as a thickener.
• Crisps and flavoured snacks or nuts where wheat starch may be used in the flavourings or to ‘stick’ the flavourings on.
• Sweets and chocolate bars where wheat flour or wheat starch is often used.
• Processed cheese, processed yoghurts and grated cheese where a gluten-based ingredient may be used to thicken or separate.
• Flours derived from gluten-free foods such as potato flour or rice flour may have cross-contamination problems.
• Squashes or cordials which may contain barley.