Compliance with Gluten-Free Labelling Regulation in the Brazilian Food Industry

Gluten is an important protein complex for baking products found in wheat, rye, barley, and some oat varieties. However, some people need to avoid these grains and their products because they result in gluten-related disorders. The only treatment for these individuals is to engage in a gluten-free diet. The objective of this work was to verify if the gluten content of several commercial food products sold in Brazil complied with their labeling. The Mendez ELISA R5 sandwich method was used to analyze 437 samples, and of these, 70% were labeled as gluten-free, 26% as containing gluten, and 4% not labeled in relation to gluten. The results indicated that 89% of the products labeled as gluten-free were correctly labeled and 11% were not, which represented a risk for celiac people.