A gluten-free support resource for South Africa

The most common question I get asked is “what does ‘may contain gluten’ really mean?”

Let me break it down …

The South African food labelling legislation is regulated by the Department of Health and is currently covered under Regulation 146 : 2010 (the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act).

Under these regulations, gluten has to be declared in the list of ingredients if a “significant cereal species” like wheat or barley has been used as an ingredient.

If gluten isn’t an ingredient, but there is a risk of cross-contamination in the food factory, then the regulation states that there has to be an allergen control policy in place.  This policy has to address the risks and steps taken to avoid allergen cross-contamination.  Precautionary labelling like “may contain gluten” can only be used if the manufacturer has allergen control policy in place.

Gluten-free claims can only be made if the food does not contain any ingredients from significant cereals like wheat or barley, and laboratory testing confirms that the maximum amount of gluten is no more than 20mg/kg (parts per million).