<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

 I got a lot of very helpful information from the New Zealand
contingency. Thanks! I will send it in parts as it is too much to place
in one posting. Aloha


In NZ - as in Australia - the term gluten-free is defined as 'no
detectable gluten, no oats or malt'. This is a stricter definition than
that proposed by the Draft Standard of the Codex Alimentarius
Commission. Certified wheat starch based products, since they contain
traces of gluten, cannot be labelled as gluten-free. They are permitted
to be labelled as 'low-gluten' but there are few of these products on
the market anyway.

As from the end of 2002, all packaged foods in NZ must indicate on their
lables if they contain any of a certain group of allergens such as egg,
soy, shellfish, wheat ( for wheat allergies ) etc and intolerance
initiating substances such as lactose and gluten. This has made life
much easier for coeliacs. The crossgrained coeliac sign is copyrighted
to the NZ Coeliac Sosiety. Any item with the crossgrained sign or any
item labelled gluten-free must be free of all detectable gluten.
However, there are plenty of products that are GF that don't use the
crossgrained sign.

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