Skip to main content

                    Gluten free sampling study

                    Rows of cakes and doughnuts
                    The City of Melbourne has a responsibility under the Food Act (1984) to ensure food businesses in the municipality provide safe and suitable food to their customers.

                    ​As part of this responsibility the Health and Wellbeing Branch conduct a mandatory sampling program with these food businesses. 

                    During 2014 to 2016 the Gluten Free Sampling Project considered the compliance rate of foods that are labelled as gluten free as well as the knowledge base of staff within the food businesses in the municipality.  

                    Environmental Health Officers took a variety of samples from across the municipality and implemented a survey with the premises manager/owner or an appropriate staff member in relation to their knowledge of gluten and the types of food handling and storage procedures they had in place for preparing, cooking and serving gluten free food.

                    Compliance results from each year of sampling are as follows:


                    ​2014
                    2015​2016​
                    ​Number of samples
                    138
                    151​156​
                    ​Number of premises​
                    ​123
                    110​127​
                    ​Number of samples non-compliant
                    ​28
                    ​22
                    ​14
                    ​Percentage of samples non-compliant
                    ​20%
                    ​15%
                    ​9%


                    During 2016 the City of Melbourne worked with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Coeliac Australia in relation to the sampling.  Results have since been presented at various national and international conferences as well as the publication of an article in Medical Journal of Australia in 2018. 

                    View more about our study at the Walter and Eliza  Hall Institute.

                    Coeliac Australia provides online training f​or food service providers to assist with best practice for the gluten free food preparation. Suitable for anyone working in the hospitality sector participants earn a Certificate of Achievement that is valid for three years.

                      Was this page helpful?

                      If you'd like to give more feedback or ask a question, please contact us.