The reason why you pay so much more for gluten-free products at the supermarket
If you're coeliac or have a general intolerance to gluten, you've probably been forced to fork out some major cash for gluten-free bread.
Almost every café, restaurant or venue around Australia charges an additional fee to make your food gluten-free. Whether it be your breakfast fry-up, pasta or sandwich, you'll be paying more to avoid wheat.
A food expert has spoken about the "gluten-free tax" that people with immune conditions pay and revealed, on average, gluten-free food is 7.2 times more expensive than regular food.
Gluten-free cook Becky Excell, from the UK, said your supermarket shop could be 20 per cent more expensive if you're opting for food without gluten products.
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Watch the clip above
Becky Excell is a gluten-free chef and spoke about the hidden tax on gluten-free food. TikTok
Gluten-free bread can be up to seven times more expensive. Getty Images/iStockphoto
"For people who have coeliac disease, a gluten intolerance or another medical reason for avoiding gluten, it just simply isn't a choice," Excell explained in a TikTok video.
"That's just how it is when you buy basic gluten-free food products. Gluten-free food is too expensive and it needs to change."
Excell asked her followers to share their opinion on this "obscene" food tax, and plenty of commenters were quick to share their fury.
"Well said, my lactose-free cheese is a joke too. Almost double the price as normal cheese," one person wrote.
"THIS! So difficult to budget and buy food that doesn't make you sick when it's so much more all the time," another added.
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Gluten-free bread can cost up to $8.05. Woolworths
A similar loaf of bread that isn't gluten-free costs just $4.40. Woolworths
One wrote: "Yes, fed up with paying more for gluten-free and not even getting good quality for the extra money."
According to Coeliac Australia, coeliac disease impacted around one in 70 people in the country. This means over 365,000 Australians are paying the "gluten tax" every single day.
At Woolworths, gluten-free shoppers can expect to fork out $8.05 for a Helga's 500g Gluten-Free Wholemeal Loaf.
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Vegetarian sandwich made with sourdough bread, avocado creme, cucumber, radish and remoulade sauce with bowl of sprouts served on a table. Getty
Comparatively, non-Coeliac customers pay just $4.40 for the Helga's 750g Wholemeal Sourdough Loaf. That's almost double the price.
But why is it so expensive? According to CoeliacSanctuary.co.uk, most manufacturers have dedicated facilities for making gluten-free products to avoid cross-contamination, which is a huge cost outlay.
Edible gluten-free bread also generally required more ingredients to make than regular wheat bread, which means a higher production cost.
