2023-05-22 16:40:54
The consumption of gluten-free products has not stopped growing for several decades. The reasons are varied, but a better diagnosis of celiac disease and an increase in allergies and food intolerances are among the main ones.
The knowledge that some food components included in the term FODMAP –which includes oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and fermentable polyols–, present in the same cereals as gluten, has also influenced people with irritable bowel syndrome. . And we cannot ignore the generally unfounded belief of some people that gluten is not good for their health.
The increase in the consumption of gluten-free products has also greatly influenced the improvement of the organoleptic quality of these products and the decrease in sales prices. For this, numerous investigations have been necessary on the part of universities, research centers and companies.
The most difficult products made with wheat flour to imitate when eliminating gluten are all those based on sourdough. Among them, bread is the most consumed worldwide. Over the years, there has been a shift from very simple gluten-free formulas and low-volume breads, with unpleasant textures and strange flavors, to much better quality breads. For this, more complex formulas are usually used in which each ingredient provides different characteristics (volume, color of the crust, spongier textures, juiciness, nutritional value).
Gluten-free breads, forgotten by the regulations
In 2019, the Spanish regulations regarding bread and special breads were modified. It was a complex process, which involved many associations, and was not exempt from some controversy. Thus, what can be called sourdough bread was regulated and order was established in the denomination of wholemeal breads or those made with other cereals. But without making any reference to “gluten-free bread”, despite being a product present on the market and consumed by a growing population.
In this regulation, bread is defined as a product resulting from the cooking of a fermented dough obtained by mixing flour and water. And herein lies the problem, since in most of the “gluten-free breads” present on the market, wheat flour has been replaced by starches, and not by other flours.
This has led the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to inform that these products cannot be called breads, since they do not comply with the current regulations, designed for breads made mostly with wheat flour. Yes, gluten-free breads could be called those made with a greater amount of flour than starch.
The advantages of using starch
The fact of incorporating starches in “gluten-free breads” is not something exclusive to Spain, but rather it is a common practice around the world. In fact, corn starch is the most used ingredient in these preparations. The reason is simple and is based on the fact that the volume reached in preparations with starch is much greater than that obtained with gluten-free flours. In turn, it has a fairly neutral flavor, which is not surprising, and a low price compared to many gluten-free flours. The use of tapioca starch is also common, since it improves the texture of these productsin itself quite poor.
It is true that starches are nutritionally poorer than flours, but their difference with rice flour, the most used in the preparation of “gluten-free breads”, is not very great either. This is because white rice flour has a low protein content, and most of the minerals, vitamins and fibers are removed in the milling process. Furthermore, these nutrients can be added in other ways.
“Gluten-free breads” can also be made with other cereal and pseudocereal flours, such as corn, sorghum, millet, teff, quinoa, amaranth or buckwheat, and even legume flours. And these flours can be obtained by removing the external parts or in the form of wholemeal flour, in which case they would be much more nutritionally complete. But it is also true that this type of flour reduces the volume of the bread if we compare it with starch, worsens the texture and adds strange flavors to which consumers are less accustomed, and which they tend to reject.
Gluten-free bread is also bread
In a product like “gluten-free bread”, where the organoleptic quality has been greatly improved, no steps back should be taken. The use of these mentioned flours should be an alternative, as occurs in wheat bread, not an obligation if you want to preserve the name by which these products have been known for years, and which is maintained in most countries of the world. world.
Another very important aspect is the tax. Despite the fact that the celiac group has to invest a greater amount of money in their diet, due to the higher cost of gluten-free products, and being a group with significant limitations, the VAT on “gluten-free bread” has always been higher. higher than that of common bread. This fact was so precisely because it did not adapt to the definition of bread.
That changed in 2012, when the VAT on gluten-free products was equated to their gluten-free counterparts. In fact, the VAT reduction for common bread that occurred in 2023 also applies to “gluten-free breads”, even though these are mostly made with starches and cannot, in theory, be called breads.
What the regulations say in the case of bread is that when its gluten-containing ingredients have been substituted by other naturally gluten-free ingredients and are marketed with the indication of very low gluten content or gluten-free, the same VAT will be applied to them as to normal breads.
It seems that there is some inconsistency between the two laws. If the substitution of gluten-containing ingredients for others such as starches is allowed in tax legislation, this fact should also carry a similar denomination. It also seems that there is an error by the legislator, who did not contemplate the specific case of gluten-free bread in the bread regulations.
In Spain there have been cases in which some legislations are not complied with and this has no major repercussions, neither in the form of sanctions nor in the obligation of changes. In these cases, the authorities are aware of the inconsistencies that have been generated, but this is not justifiable and companies and consumers need legal certainty.
Therefore, a change in the legislation should be seriously considered, so that a product known as “gluten-free bread” by manufacturing companies and consumers, and known in the same way in almost all of Europe, can continue to be called in the same way. Unless this entails a detriment to the consumer.
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