Is beer gluten-free?

Gluten-free may only appear on a product with at most 20 milligrams of gluten per kilo, i.e. 20 ppm.

That limit is set in Implementing Regulation (EU) 828/2014, the European rule on information to consumers about the absence of gluten in foodstuffs. In addition there is a second legal statement: very low gluten content. That is intended for products of wheat, rye, barley or oats that have been specially processed to lower the gluten content, and for that the limit is 100 milligrams per kilo. Oats in such a product must themselves stay under 20 milligrams per kilo and be processed in such a way that mixing with wheat, rye or barley is prevented.

Gluten-free brewed beer comes from grains without gluten, whereas gluten-removed beer comes from barley or wheat from which the gluten has been broken down with an enzyme and filtered out.

The Nederlandse Coeliakie Vereniging describes both routes. In the first, the brewer uses a different grain, such as buckwheat, instead of barley or wheat. In the second, the brewer adds an enzyme that breaks the gluten proteins into small pieces, after which those pieces are filtered out. Both beers can carry the statement gluten-free on the label, because the law looks at the content in the end product and not at the route taken to get there. With the second route, barley malt is usually still listed in the ingredients.

Look on the label for the statement gluten-free or very low gluten content, because only those two statements are regulated by law.

Other wordings, such as brewed without barley or a brewery's own logo, are not bound to a legal threshold. The Nederlandse Coeliakie Vereniging advises looking out for the Crossed Grain mark, because products with that mark are tested for gluten. If it says gluten-free while barley malt remains in the ingredients list, it is beer from which the gluten has been removed. If you are unsure about a label, you can ask the brewery or the shop.

Beer is a fermented product, and that calls for an adapted test method to determine the gluten content reliably.

The Nederlandse Coeliakie Vereniging points out that there are several test methods for gluten and that fermented products require a protocol of their own. If a manufacturer uses a method that is not tailored to this, the result is unreliable. That requirement is not in the law. For that reason the association advises choosing products with a quality mark under which the gluten analysis is regulated, even if barley malt appears on the label.

Questions about your own situation belong with your practitioner or with the Nederlandse Coeliakie Vereniging, not with a shop.

This page explains what the law says and how you can find it on a label. What that means for you depends on your own situation, and you decide that with a doctor or dietitian. The Dutch Coeliac Association also provides information about labels, quality marks and products. In the shop in Bathmen we can read the label along with you and show you which beers carry the gluten-free claim.