Determination of hidden gluten in food supplements and foods for particular nutritional uses from Serbian market

Abstract

Coeliac disease is characterized by permanent intestinal intolerance to wheat gliadin and related prolamins from barley, rye and oats. The gluten free diet is a life long treatment for coeliac patients. Industrial starch or other ingredients used in manufacturing of dietary products can contain prolamins as impurities. The aim of this work was investigation the presence of gluten in dietary products from the national market: 30 dietary foods for infants and young children and 35 food supplements were analyzed using the Ridascreen Gliadin sandwich R5 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with cocktail extraction. The most of the analyzed samples (88%) contained less than limit of quantification of 5 mg/kg for gluten. Gluten content of 5-20 mg/kg was determined in 3 samples. Five of 65 samples (8%) contained mean gluten levels ≥ 20 mg/kg and would not be considered "gluten-free" according to the national Regulation on health safety of dietary products. The systematic control of the presence of gluten in gluten-free dietary products is very important and should be obligatory in order to protect the health of coeliac patients.