About Gluten-Free Food

Gluten is a protein that’s found in cereals such as wheat, rye and barley. A similar protein is also present in oats. When it’s mixed with water, gluten forms stretchy, sticky strands that bind mixtures together and trap bubbles to form the light and airy structure of bread and cakes. Cooking without gluten therefore requires different ingredients and methods.

Many foods are naturally gluten free, as they don’t contain any wheat, rye, barley or oats. Other foods that usually contain these cereals can be made without them for a gluten-free version.

The ‘Free From’ sections of supermarkets are where you’ll find most of these products, including the Genius gluten-free range.

The term 'gluten free' implies no gluten. In reality, tests aren’t sensitive enough to detect a zero level of gluten. The standard for gluten-free food products used to be set at a level of 200mg gluten/kg or 200 parts per million (ppm), but labelling legislation has recently changed. As a result, only foods that contain less than 20ppm will soon be able to be labelled 'gluten-free'. Products containing between 20ppm and 100ppm will need to be labelled 'very low gluten'.

The new legislation for the labelling of gluten-free foods came into full effect in January 2012.