Cross-contact, part 2: the shared surfaces where gluten actually travels

International English edition — UK · Ireland · US · Canada · Australia · New Zealand.

Direct answer: In a shared kitchen, gluten moves onto gluten-free food by residue — crumbs, flour dust, starchy water, used oil — not by what an object is made of. Wash boards, spoons and colanders properly, never share frying oil or pasta water, and dedicate or bag the toaster. Every national coeliac body across the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand agrees on that core list — though, as the section below explains, the legal “gluten-free” line itself is not the same number in every one of those six countries.

Part 1 explained what cross-contact is and why a numeric threshold matters at all. This part goes object by object: what each shared surface really carries, what the studies measured, what your own national body actually says, and the fix that closes it. It is general guidance for a mixed household, written to the evidence, not a diary of one home.

What “shared surfaces” adds to part 1

Gluten (from wheat)

Boards & knives crumbs into open jars

Toaster crumbs you can’t wash out

Shared oil / fryer batter stays in the oil

Colander / pasta water starchy water carries it

Sponge & cloth spreads crumbs around

Airborne flour settles on open food

Shared surface or item	Does it carry gluten?	What to do
Boards & knives	Yes, from crumbs. A knife used on wheat bread then dipped into a jar pushed mayonnaise and peanut butter above 20 ppm in Parsons (2021).	Keep a separate bread board for gluten-free bread, and use separate spreads or a clean knife every time. Wash other boards in hot soapy water or the dishwasher. Replace any board that is cracked or grooved, in any material.
Wooden spoons & utensils	Not because it is wood. No published study has found gluten on a washed wooden utensil, and none of the six national coeliac bodies singles out wood.	Wash it in hot soapy water or the dishwasher, which removes the gluten. Retire anything cracked or gouged, in any material.
Toaster	It holds crumbs you cannot wash out, yet every one of the 40 test slices came back under 20 ppm (detectable samples around 5–8 ppm).	A dedicated toaster, or a reusable toaster bag kept for gluten-free use only. Occasional sharing is a small risk under the 20 ppm line, not zero on a given morning.
Fryer / shared oil	Yes. Batter and breadcrumbs shed into hot oil and stay suspended through it, coating whatever fries next.	Fresh oil in a clean pan, or a fryer that only ever sees gluten-free food. At home, fry the gluten-free portion first in fresh oil, or oven-bake it.
Colander / pasta water	Yes — the clearest route measured. Gluten-free pasta cooked in water already used for wheat pasta reached as high as 115 ppm.	Fresh water in a clean pot, every time. Rinsing the cooked pasta brought it under 20 ppm; rinsing the pot first made the gluten undetectable. A second cheap colander helps if you cook a lot of wheat pasta.
Sponges & cloths	Yes — a crumb-loaded sponge or a floury tea towel moves gluten across the worktop and onto plates.	Rinse and wring the cloth before wiping for gluten-free prep, or use kitchen paper for the first pass. Wash gluten-free items first in fresh water; towels go in the wash after wheat baking. (Coeliac UK treats a shared cloth as adequate; the Coeliac Society of Ireland asks for dedicated cloths.)
Airborne flour	Yes, but by settling and being swallowed — not by touch. It lands on the worktop, the open jar and the gluten-free dough proving nearby.	Bake gluten-free first, before any wheat flour is out. Store wheat flour — and, in Australia and New Zealand, oats — sealed and low; wipe surfaces down after a wheat-baking session.

Part 1 gave you the principle: gluten-free ingredients are not enough if gluten arrives from somewhere else, and heat does not remove it — cooking changes gluten’s structure but does not break it down to where the immune system stops recognising it, so frying, baking, toasting and boiling all leave it intact (National Celiac Association, “Does heat kill gluten?”, last verified 2026-09-13). The gap most people hit next is the object-level question — “is this thing giving me gluten?” — and the internet answers it with a long list of items to replace. The evidence points the other way. Two published tests of everyday kitchen practices found most scenarios stayed below the 20 ppm line used in four of this region’s six markets, and both named the same handful of real transfer routes. So the useful question is not “wood or plastic?” but “what is still on it, and which country’s line am I measuring against?”

The line moves depending on where you live

Two published studies below measure cross-contact in parts per million (ppm) and judge it against “20 ppm.” That number is the legal threshold for a “gluten-free” claim on packaged food in the UK, Ireland (as an EU member state), the US and Canada — Codex Alimentarius’s international default (≤20 mg/kg, CXS 118-1979), carried into UK law as assimilated Regulation (EU) No 828/2014 (no more than 20 mg/kg, last verified 2026-09-13), into US law as FDA 21 CFR 101.91 (20 ppm, last verified 2026-09-13), and into Canadian law via Health Canada / CFIA’s Food and Drug Regulations B.24.018 (20 ppm, last verified 2026-09-13).

Australia and New Zealand set a stricter bar. Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s Food Standards Code Standard 1.2.7 requires no detectable gluten for a “gluten-free” claim — in practice, the floor of the test method, roughly 3–5 ppm — and it does not permit oats or oat products in any food carrying a “gluten-free” claim, however clean the oats test (FSANZ Standard 1.2.7, last verified 2026-09-13). That is a genuine difference, not a rounding error: “gluten-free oats,” sold as such in the UK, Ireland, the US and Canada once specially produced and tested uncontaminated, cannot be labelled gluten-free in Australia or New Zealand at all.

Practically, this means a result the Weisbrod or Parsons studies below call “under 20 ppm” would not clear the Australian or New Zealand legal bar for a packaged product — though neither of those studies tested packaged food, and this page is about kitchen behaviour, not labelling compliance. It also shows up in tone: Coeliac Australia’s and Coeliac New Zealand’s own home guidance, cited throughout this page, is written for the stricter bar and does not cite ppm figures the way Coeliac UK, the Coeliac Society of Ireland, the National Celiac Association and the Canadian Celiac Association do.

Boards and knives

The risk. A board that has just had a wheat loaf sliced on it is covered in crumbs; a knife that has been through bread and then into a jar leaves crumbs in the jar. This is the most ordinary route of all, and the one study that looked at spreads confirmed it: in Parsons et al. (2021), mayonnaise and peanut butter that had been touched by a knife used on wheat bread tested above 20 ppm, even though most of the other scenarios in the study did not.

The fix. Coeliac UK’s guidance is a separate bread board for gluten-free bread, and either separate condiments or clean cutlery every time for shared butter, jam and spreads (coeliac.org.uk, last verified 2026-09-13). For everything else — chopping vegetables, meat, cheese — a board washed in hot soapy water or a dishwasher is a clean board. Worn boards are the exception: the Canadian Celiac Association is explicit that a cracked board should be replaced, “because both gluten and germs can hide in those small spaces” (celiac.ca, last verified 2026-09-13). Retire a board for its condition, not its material.

Toasters and toaster bags

The risk. A toaster is a box of crumbs you cannot wash. That is why most associations in this region default to a separate one, though how firmly they push it varies.

What each body recommends. Coeliac UK and the Coeliac Society of Ireland both lead with a dedicated toaster or toaster bags — Ireland adds that a toaster oven with a removable, washable rack is an acceptable alternative (coeliac.ie, last verified 2026-09-13). The National Celiac Association’s advice is the same: “use a dedicated toaster or use foil in a toaster oven” (nationalceliac.org, last verified 2026-09-13), and the Canadian Celiac Association matches it, again allowing a toaster oven with a washable rack (celiac.ca, last verified 2026-09-13). Coeliac Australia and Coeliac New Zealand read as the most relaxed of the six about occasional sharing: Australia’s advice is to clean a shared toaster regularly and reserve one side, with a separate toaster only “preferred,” not required (coeliac.org.au, last verified 2026-09-13); New Zealand offers a toaster bag or a clean grill/pan as the practical option for a shared kitchen without asking for a dedicated appliance (coeliac.org.nz, last verified 2026-09-13).

What was measured. Weisbrod et al. (2020) toasted gluten-free bread in shared toasters with visible crumbs: all 40 slices came back under 20 ppm (detectable samples ran around 5–8 ppm). Parsons et al. (2021) included a shared-toaster scenario in a study where 93.6% of all results showed no significant cross-contact.

The fix. A dedicated toaster removes the question and costs little; a reusable toaster bag kept for gluten-free use only is the travel and small-kitchen answer. If you share a toaster occasionally, the evidence says the transfer is usually small under the UK/Ireland/US/Canada 20 ppm line — it does not say it is zero on any given morning, which is why a dedicated toaster remains the more cautious North American and UK/Irish advice, even where Australia and New Zealand’s own bodies are more relaxed about the toaster specifically. Our toaster FAQ goes into the options.

Fryers and shared oil

The risk. Batter and breadcrumbs shed into hot oil and stay suspended in it, then coat whatever goes in next. Chips fried in the oil that did the breaded chicken are not “plain chips” any more.

What each body says. This is close to the one route where the region agrees outright. Coeliac UK: clean oil or a separate fryer (coeliac.org.uk, last verified 2026-09-13). The Coeliac Society of Ireland: do not fry gluten-free food in oil used for gluten-containing crumbed or coated foods, because the gluten stays suspended in the oil (coeliac.ie, last verified 2026-09-13). Coeliac New Zealand: avoid frying gluten-free food in the same oil as food that contains gluten (coeliac.org.nz, last verified 2026-09-13). The National Celiac Association lists a fryer or air fryer among the items it recommends dedicating to gluten-free use because a fryer is hard to clean thoroughly between uses (nationalceliac.org, last verified 2026-09-13). Coeliac Australia’s framing is slightly softer in wording — it points at “visible bits of batter or crumbs left floating in the oil” as the contamination source, which reads as scoop-it-out rather than an outright ban on reused oil (coeliac.org.au, last verified 2026-09-13) — but the underlying mechanism (batter sheds fine residue through the whole volume of oil, not only the visible lumps) is the same everywhere, which is why fresh oil is still the reliable fix even under Australia’s own wording.

The fix. Fresh oil in a clean pan, or a fryer that only ever sees gluten-free food. At home this is easy: fry the gluten-free portion first in fresh oil, or oven-bake it. Eating out, this is the question to ask before any fried item.

Colanders and pasta water

The risk. Wheat pasta releases gluten into its cooking water, and gluten-free pasta drained through the same water or the same colander picks it up. This was the one scenario in Weisbrod et al. (2020) that went clearly over the line: gluten-free pasta cooked in water previously used for wheat pasta reached as high as 115 ppm. Rinsing the cooked pasta under running water brought it under 20 ppm; rinsing the pot before use made the gluten undetectable.

The fix. Fresh water in a clean pot, always — Coeliac New Zealand states this plainly: do not cook gluten-free pasta in water already used for wheat pasta (coeliac.org.nz, last verified 2026-09-13). Coeliac Australia’s documented alternative, when both pastas are cooking at once, is to cook and drain the gluten-free pasta first, then reuse the water for the wheat pasta afterward (coeliac.org.au, last verified 2026-09-13) — the same “gluten-free first” sequence as the protocol below, just run in the other order. A colander’s holes trap starch and are genuinely hard to scrub clean, which is why the Canadian Celiac Association and the National Celiac Association both list a colander or strainer among the items worth dedicating to gluten-free use (celiac.ca; nationalceliac.org; both last verified 2026-09-13) — even though Coeliac UK, the Coeliac Society of Ireland and Coeliac Australia treat a thorough wash of shared equipment as sufficient rather than flagging colanders specifically. A second, cheap colander is a reasonable middle path for a household that cooks a lot of wheat pasta, not a requirement everywhere.

Wooden spoons, boards, and the “porous means replace it” claim

The claim you’ll have read. Wood is porous, gluten lodges in the grain, so every wooden spoon, board and rolling pin must be replaced.

What the evidence and the six national bodies actually say. No published study has measured gluten on a washed wooden utensil — Weisbrod (2020) and Parsons (2021) tested toasters, knives, oil and water, not wood. And of the six coeliac associations across this region, none singles out wood by name. Coeliac UK and the Coeliac Society of Ireland both treat washing-up liquid or a dishwasher as sufficient for boards and utensils generally. Coeliac Australia’s home guidance treats a shared board as fine once wiped down or used for gluten-free food first (coeliac.org.au, last verified 2026-09-13). The National Celiac Association’s own list of what it recommends dedicating — because these items are “difficult to clean or porous” — names a strainer/colander, a sifter, cast-iron pans, a bread maker, sandwich maker or waffle iron, and a fryer; wood is not on the list, and the same page states that washing pots, pans and knives with detergent and water is enough to remove gluten (nationalceliac.org, last verified 2026-09-13). The “wooden spoon must go” claim circulates widely online, but it is not the position of any of the six coeliac bodies surveyed for this piece.

The fix. Wash it — hot soapy water or a dishwasher, per Coeliac UK and the Coeliac Society of Ireland. What genuinely earns a dedicated replacement, per the National Celiac Association and the Canadian Celiac Association, is anything actually hard to clean: a fine-holed colander or strainer, a cast-iron pan, a bread maker or waffle iron, a fryer, or any board that is cracked or grooved — residue in a groove is residue you cannot see, regardless of what the board is made of. If replacing a few tired wooden tools with stainless or silicone makes the household calmer, that is a fine choice — just know it is a preference, not a rule any of the six bodies demands.

Sponges, cloths and dishwashing

The risk. A sponge loaded with crumbs from the bread board does not clean the worktop; it moves gluten across it. A tea towel used to wipe a floury surface then dries the coeliac’s plate.

What each body says — and where they genuinely disagree. Coeliac UK: “you do not need to use separate cloths or sponges” (coeliac.org.uk, last verified 2026-09-13). The Coeliac Society of Ireland takes the opposite position: “dedicate cleaning cloths to gluten free preparation” (coeliac.ie, last verified 2026-09-13). Coeliac Australia sits closer to the UK: cloths and surfaces are “washed with warm soapy water or wiped clean of crumbs or flour dust with a damp cloth” (coeliac.org.au, last verified 2026-09-13), with no separate-cloth requirement stated. This is a real difference between two neighbouring bodies, not an error on either side — both are managing the same crumb-and-residue risk, just at different tolerances.

The fix. Rinse and wring the cloth before you wipe for gluten-free prep, or use kitchen paper for the first pass; wash gluten-free items first in fresh water rather than last in a bowl that has already done the floury dishes; and after a wheat-baking session, the towels go in the wash. If you’re following the Coeliac Society of Ireland’s guidance specifically, keep one or two cloths set aside for gluten-free wiping only; everywhere else in this region, a well-rinsed shared cloth is treated as adequate by the national body. Ordinary detergent does the work either way — sequence and a clean cloth are what matter.

The flour cloud: does airborne flour matter?

The honest picture. Touching gluten is not the problem — coeliac disease is triggered by gluten you swallow, not gluten on your skin. Gluten molecules are too large to pass through intact skin into the bloodstream, so the primary concern is always ingestion (AOECS, “Position Paper on Gluten in Medicines and Cosmetics,” 30 October 2024, last verified 2026-09-13). Airborne wheat flour matters for exactly that reason, not by being touched: it settles — on the worktop, on the open jar, on the gluten-free dough proving on the side — and it can also be breathed in through the nose and mouth and swallowed down into the GI tract (National Celiac Association, “Airborne gluten,” last verified 2026-09-13). We have not found a primary source for how long flour stays suspended in a kitchen, so this piece does not put a number on it.

The fix. Bake gluten-free first, before any wheat flour comes out. Store wheat flour sealed and low; keep gluten-free food closed and above it. After a wheat-baking session, wipe surfaces down and let the room settle before gluten-free prep. A normal evening kitchen where nobody is dredging with flour is not a meaningful airborne risk — save the caution for the baking day. This is also where the oats rule from earlier becomes a storage question, not just a labelling one: in Australia and New Zealand, oats and oat flour in the cupboard are never a “gluten-free” ingredient by law, so they belong stored and treated exactly like wheat flour — sealed, low, and kept away from gluten-free prep — never assumed clean just because a bag looks like porridge oats. Our oat flour page and the flour-dust FAQ cover the bakery and café side.

A simple shared-kitchen protocol

1. Never share frying oil or pasta water. Fresh oil, fresh water, clean pot — every time.
2. Dedicate or bag the toaster.
3. Own spreads for the coeliac, or a clean-knife-only rule that everyone actually keeps.
4. Gluten-free first. Cook, drain, bake and wash up the gluten-free items before the wheat ones.
5. Wipe before, not after. Clean cloth, hot soapy water, then prep.
6. Wash, don’t replace. Boards, spoons, pans and colanders in any material are fine once washed; retire anything gouged, cracked or crumb-clogged, or genuinely hard to clean (a fine-holed colander, cast iron, a bread maker).
7. Store closed and above. Gluten-free food in sealed containers on the higher shelf; wheat flour — and, in Australia and New Zealand, oats too — sealed and low.
8. Baking day rules. Gluten-free baking first; flour stays in its tub; towels to the wash afterwards.
9. Know your own country’s line. ≤20 ppm covers the UK, Ireland, the US and Canada; Australia and New Zealand ask for no detectable gluten and no oats at all under a gluten-free claim. See the coeliac alphabet entry on oats for why that distinction exists.

The fewer gluten-containing products in the household, the lower the cross-contact risk, full stop — not a demand that everyone else goes gluten-free, just an honest lever, and one many mixed families pull halfway (gluten-free pasta and sauces for everyone; wheat bread kept to its corner).

When to go further

Most mixed households never need more than the list above. Going further — a second set of everything, a wholly gluten-free kitchen — is a reasonable choice when symptoms keep recurring with no explanation, when a child is too young to keep the rules, or when several people share a small kitchen and the sequence keeps breaking. If you have done the protocol and are still reacting, the next conversation is with your GP, gastroenterologist or a coeliac-aware dietitian, not with another checklist — hidden gluten in the pantry and on labels is a different problem, and the glossary entry covers where to look next.

Frequently asked questions

Can you share a toaster if you’re gluten-free?
It depends which body’s advice you follow as much as which country you’re in. Coeliac UK, the Coeliac Society of Ireland, the National Celiac Association and the Canadian Celiac Association all lead with a dedicated toaster or a toaster bag; Coeliac Australia and Coeliac New Zealand treat occasional shared use — cleaned regularly, or with a bag — as workable. The published tests found gluten-free bread toasted in crumb-filled shared toasters stayed below 20 ppm, so occasional sharing is a small risk rather than a large one under that line — but a dedicated toaster removes the question entirely.

Do I need to replace wooden spoons and chopping boards?
Not for their material. None of the six national coeliac bodies in this region singles out wood — Coeliac UK and the Coeliac Society of Ireland say ordinary washing removes gluten from utensils and boards, and the National Celiac Association’s own “dedicate this” list names colanders, cast iron and bread makers, not wood. Keep a separate bread board for the crumbs, and retire anything gouged or cracked in any material.

Is a shared fryer ever acceptable?
No, across every body surveyed. Batter and crumbs stay suspended in the oil and coat the next batch. Fresh oil or a dedicated fryer — at home and when eating out.

Does flour dust in the air affect coeliacs?
Not by breathing it in and reacting to it directly — by what it settles on and is then swallowed. Bake gluten-free first, keep flour (and, in Australia and New Zealand, oats) sealed and low, and wipe down after a wheat-baking session.

Does the same “gluten-free” limit apply in the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand?
No. The UK, Ireland, the US and Canada all set the legal line for a “gluten-free” claim at 20 ppm (20 mg/kg). Australia and New Zealand require no detectable gluten — a stricter test-floor limit of roughly 3–5 ppm — and do not allow oats in a food labelled gluten-free at all, even specially produced gluten-free oats. The kitchen-hygiene advice in this piece (wash it, don’t share the oil or the water, dedicate the toaster) holds everywhere; it’s the legal labelling bar on packaged food that differs.

Sources

Claim in this piece	Source	Last verified
“Gluten-free” international default = ≤20 mg/kg (20 ppm)	Codex Alimentarius CXS 118-1979 (rev. 2008, am. 2015) §2.1.1, FAO/WHO	2026-09-05 (source shelf, HQ)
UK: “gluten-free” = no more than 20 mg/kg, assimilated from EU law	Retained/assimilated Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 828/2014, via UK Food Standards Agency guidance (food.gov.uk; legislation.gov.uk/eur/2014/828)	2026-09-13
US: “gluten-free” claim requires under 20 ppm gluten, incl. from cross-contact	FDA, 21 CFR 101.91, “Gluten-free labeling of food” (ecfr.gov)	2026-09-13
Canada: “gluten-free” claim requires under 20 ppm; only specially processed/formulated food qualifies; specially produced gluten-free oats can carry the claim	Health Canada / CFIA, Food and Drug Regulations B.24.018; “Compliance and enforcement of gluten-free claims” and “Gluten-free labelling claims for products containing specially produced gluten-free oats” (inspection.canada.ca; canada.ca)	2026-09-13
Australia & New Zealand: “gluten-free” claim requires no detectable gluten (~3–5 ppm test floor) AND no oats or oat products, regardless of testing	Food Standards Australia New Zealand, Food Standards Code Standard 1.2.7	2026-09-13
Shared toaster, visible crumbs: all 40 GF slices < 20 ppm, detectable samples ~5–8 ppm; knife on cupcakes/spreads mostly < 20 ppm; GF pasta in used wheat-pasta water up to 115 ppm, rinsing pasta brought it < 20 ppm, rinsing the pot → undetectable; small preliminary study; wood not tested	Weisbrod VM et al., Gastroenterology 2020;158(1):273–275, doi 10.1053/j.gastro.2019.09.007, PMID 31560900	2026-09-13
Three practices tested (shared fryer, shared toaster, knife-applied spreads); 93.6% of results no significant cross-contact; mayonnaise and peanut butter samples above 20 ppm	Parsons K et al., “Gluten cross-contact from common food practices and preparations,” Clin Nutr 2021;40(5):3279–3287, doi 10.1016/j.clnu.2020.10.053, PMID 33190992	2026-09-13
No separate cloths/sponges needed; clean oil or separate fryer; separate condiments or clean cutlery; separate bread boards; toaster bags or separate toaster; washing-up liquid/dishwasher removes gluten	Coeliac UK, “Cross contamination” (coeliac.org.uk/living-with-coeliac-disease/food-and-drink/cooking-at-home/cross-contamination/)	2026-09-13
Separate toaster or bags, toaster oven with washable rack; do not fry GF food in oil used for gluten-containing crumbed/coated food; dedicate cleaning cloths to GF prep; wash strainers/colanders/utensils/boards thoroughly if not dedicated; separate condiments and spreads; store GF above gluten-containing	Coeliac Society of Ireland, “Avoiding Gluten Cross Contamination When Preparing Food At Home” (coeliac.ie)	2026-09-13
Dedicate items that are porous or hard to clean (strainer/colander, sifter, cast-iron pans, bread maker/sandwich maker/waffle iron, fryer/air fryer); washing pots, pans and knives with detergent and water removes gluten and makes them usable for GF food; dedicated toaster or foil in a toaster oven	National Celiac Association, “Do I need new, designated pans, plates, and utensils?” (nationalceliac.org)	2026-09-13
Own toaster, toaster bag, or toaster oven with a removable washable rack; replace cutting boards once cracked because gluten and germs hide in the gaps; simple soap-and-water cleaning is effective on utensils	Canadian Celiac Association, “Toasters, Pasta and Cupcakes” and “Cross Contamination” (celiac.ca)	2026-09-13
Clean shared toaster regularly, separate toaster preferred but not required; clean oil for GF cooking, watch for visible batter/crumbs in oil; discard wheat pasta water before GF pasta, or cook GF pasta first and reuse the water; shared chopping board fine if prepped GF-first or wiped down; cloths washed in warm soapy water or wiped clean of crumbs/flour dust	Coeliac Australia, “Managing Cross Contact at home” (coeliac.org.au/live/managing-cross-contact-at-home/)	2026-09-13
Use a clean grill, pan or toaster bag for GF toast rather than requiring a dedicated toaster; avoid frying GF food in oil also used for gluten-containing food; do not cook GF pasta in water already used for wheat pasta; cross-contamination happens via unclean surfaces/boards/utensils	Coeliac New Zealand, “Tackling Cross Contamination” (coeliac.org.nz)	2026-09-13
Airborne flour is an ingestion risk — it can be breathed in through the nose/mouth and swallowed, or settle onto open food; not a touch risk	National Celiac Association, “Airborne gluten” (nationalceliac.org/celiac-disease-questions/airborne-gluten/)	2026-09-13
Heat/cooking does not destroy or remove gluten; standard cooking temperatures (frying, baking, toasting, boiling) do not neutralise the gluten in gluten-containing food for coeliacs, because heat changes gluten’s structure without eliminating the fragments the immune system reacts to	National Celiac Association, “Does heat kill gluten?” (nationalceliac.org/celiac-disease-questions/does-heat-kill-gluten/)	2026-09-13
Coeliac disease is triggered by gluten that is swallowed; gluten is too large a molecule to be absorbed through intact skin, so topical/skin contact is not the trigger — the risk from touching gluten is indirect (hand to mouth), not absorption	AOECS, “Updated Position Paper on Gluten in Medicines and Cosmetics” (aoecs.org), dated 30 Oct 2024	2026-09-13

This page is general information for households, not medical advice. Coeliac disease is individual — if you are still reacting after the protocol above, talk to your GP, gastroenterologist or a coeliac-aware dietitian. We inform; we do not diagnose or prescribe.