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Here is some information we have been able to gather from Professor Dr. Martin Hiele, gastrologist UZ Leuven and spokesman of the Flemish Association of Celiac Disease.

Does beer still contain gluten?
“Beer is a subject of discussion. On the list of the Flemish Association of Celiac Disease there are many kinds of beer that are allowed. However, there are reasons to doubt the safety of beer for people with celiac disease. Most kinds of beer are made of barley. During the brewing process the barley is first germinated and then the germinated barley is fermented. As a result of the fermentation most of the carbon hydrates and proteins are split. In general the malt is removed from the beer and later on the beer will be filtered one more time. So beer certainly does not contain large lumps of protein. However, this does not alter the fact that beer can still contain traces of proteins and thus also gluten. As a matter of fact one does not know this exactly.”

Is it not possible to just measure whether or not beer contains gluten? “That is not so obvious. Even if we dispose of good measuring methods, we have to say that they are not completely reliable. There are different kinds of protein fractions in gluten and the existing measuring methods are mainly based on the determination of one kind of protein fraction, whereas the others are not taken into consideration. That is not completely correct. When we want to trace very small quantities of gluten we have to dispose of more accurate measuring methods. In case beer contains gluten, this will in any case be in very small quantities that are probably below the standard.”

What is the standard for gluten?
“A manufacturer is allowed to call a product gluten-free when the gluten content is not beyond an internationally determined limiting value. This limiting value has been determined in the Codex Alimentarius, a bundle of guidelines concerning food stuff drawn up by a commission of the World Health Organisation. Already in 1981 it was written down in this Codex that gluten-free implies that a product contains less than 20 milligrams of protein per 100 grams of dry food. This corresponds with 20 to 30 milligrams of gliadine per 100 grams of starch. In practice this is usually expressed in p.p.m. or “parts per million”, which corresponds with milligram per kilogram. A product is per definition gluten-free when it contains no more than 200 p.p.m. of gluten.” What is the point of view of Celiac Disease Associations concerning beer? “Most organisations that are dealing with celiac disease put just like that that beer is not allowed in a gluten-free diet, because usually barley or wheat is used when producing beer. Others say that beer probably contains so little gluten that a beer once in a while will rarely lead to problems for a patient with celiac disease. Is there room for beer in a gluten-free diet? In scientific circles there is no consensus about this matter. Therefore you can not expect that gluten will be mentioned on the label of beer. The scientific substructure is insufficient in order to do so.”

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