11 Jun 2025

Safer dining options needed for our gluten-free community

From Afternoons, 1:37 pm on 11 June 2025

A call has gone out to restaurants across the motu to buck up their ideas when it comes to their gluten-free dining offerings. More than 100,000 New Zealanders are estimated to be living with coeliac disease, with thousands more likely undiagnosed. 

Now Coeliac New Zealand says people too often are navigating a minefield of hidden ingredients, cross-contamination risks, and the fear of being misunderstood or dismissed for being coeliac. The non-profit says this will both benefit our gluten-free community and could revitalise the struggling hospitality sector.

Wendy Bremner is general manager at Coeliac New Zealand. She joins Jesse. 

Michelin Star food at Le Petit Léon.

Michelin Star food at Le Petit Léon. Photo: Nick Honeyman