<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
Hi all, New Zealand dietitians maintain a register of commercial foods and
their ingredients (using information supplied by the manufacturers), and
this is called the NZ therapeutic database. From that database they supply
the NZ coeliac society with a list of all commercial gluten free food
products currently available in NZ, and the society sends the list to its
members. The May 1996 list does not include Marmite, so NZ coeliacs would
generally assume it not to be GF (although I have not called Sanitarium,
the manufacturer, to check). However, a similar product, Vegemite
(manufactured by Kraft) is included in the list, and is regularly consumed
by my coeliac daughter with no ill-effects. Another beef/yeast extract
(Bovril) is also included in the GF list.
 
Some of you may also be interested in the following, which is included in
the introduction to the GF foods booklet: "For the purposes of the GF list
the criteria used for GF is that defined in the current New Zealand Food
Regulations: When food products contain ingredients derived from wheat,
triticale, rye, barley, and oats the nitrogen content of those ingredients
shall not exceed 0.05 percent calculated as nitrogen on a dry weight basis;
Starches prepared from gluten containing cereals are not considered to
contain gluten if there is less than 0.3 percent protein in the dry
matter."
cheers
Phil
 
Philip Sheard
Developmental Biology Unit,
Department of Physiology,
University of Otago Medical School,
Dunedin, New Zealand.
Ph (64 3) 479-7344
Fax (64 3) 479-7323