Updated 15th April 2024
Whilst in the past, there was much confusion about whether or not it was safe for somebody with coeliac disease to consume malt vinegar and barley malt. I can confirm that the current advice is, that malt vinegar and barley malt is NOT safe to include within a gluten free diet.
Please read the following extract from Coeliac UK for more information…
Coeliac Uk have recently changed their advice about including malt vinegar and barley malt extract within a gluten free diet and now advise the following:
- We are no longer listing products containing barley malt extract or barley malt vinegar unless they are labelled gluten free.
- This is because barley malt extract and barley malt vinegar are made from gluten containing grains.
For the full update from Coeliac UK regarding barley malt vinegar and barley malt extract please click here. I do feel this new guidance from Coeliac Uk is a great move, and brings with it much needed clarity.
Should you be thinking of a safe alternative to malt vinegar? My vinegar of choice at home is either cyder or wine vinegar. And I can confirm, both work really well when drizzled over gluten free chips!
Hope you found the information within this article helpful. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
For now,
Liz x
If this is so then why O why do they list it in the ingredients list as bold BARLEY as an allergens
It’s all so confusing isn’t it?!! As barley is listed as a known allergen, it must be highlighted in bold when it has been added to any product. So despite malt vinegar being deemed safe to include within a gluten free diet (this is due to the distilling process and the level of gluten present being less than 20 parts per million) it’s original source is still from barley. Hope that makes sense. As I mentioned in my original post, any other products, besides vinegar that contain barley malt or barley malt extract, must be checked out and not included within your gf diet, unless they either state they are gluten free, or are listed within coeliac Uk’s food and drink directory. And finally just to throw a spanner into the works…. whilst the UK and other countries give us the thumbs up to include food products (within our gf diets), that have originally derived from a gluten containing cereal – such as malt vinegar – Australia and New Zealand do not.
Liz✨
You need to check the research evidence/science showing the gluten test may not work properly on fermented and distilled foods/liquids. There is strong evidence to show the nature of distilled/femented foods skews the test results therefore barley malt vinegar carries risk as not suitable for coeliac.
Hi, this is something that is on my list to delve into a bit more. As it does puzzle me that some countries advise that is safe to include malt vinegar in a gluten free diet whilst others do not. This also applies to other things such as gluten free beers and flours too. Best wishes. Liz