Catering for Coeliacs Coeliac consumers looking for foods suitable for them can consult the list of products with Ministerial Notification contained in the National Register of Foods of the Ministry of Health (Registro Nazionale degli Alimenti del Ministero della Salute) and in AIC (Associazione Italiana Celiachia) Handbook (http://www.celiachia.it/). Pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 111 of 27 January 1992, the Ministry of Health (Art.7, point 1) must be notified of the products intended for special diets and the production establishments must be granted the appropriate authorization (Art. 10, point 1).  In May 2003, after recognizing the impossibility to obtain totally gluten-free products, the Advisory Commission for products intended for special diets set the maximum gluten level in analyses at 20 ppm . In view of the traditional Italian diet and scientific evidence available today, such tolerance limit is considered as the most appropriate compromise guaranteeing the health of consumers. Catering for coeliacs is not subject to any regulation or specific form of control or guarantee, other than the food safety management system based on the principles of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP). ICEA has activated a voluntary certification scheme aimed at qualifying these catering services and assuring final consumers that the gastronomic preparations and/or food served meet requirements.  REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION ICEA certification covers individual food preparation and cooking centres and aims at ensuring compliance with the following requirements:   1. Gastronomic preparations obtained exclusively with: - products with Ministerial Notification, either listed in the National Register of Foods of the Ministry of Health, or displaying AIC’s symbol for gluten-free (an ear of wheat crossed out), or listed in AIC’s Handbook; - naturally gluten-free products, for which no risk of contamination with gluten is possible in the production and marketing chain (e.g. fruit and vegetables, meat, etc.); 2. Gastronomic preparations with gluten content not exceeding 20 ppm. 3. Traceability of each and every lot of ingredients used for the gastronomic preparations served every day; 4. Specifically trained staff, whose expertise and performance are periodically audited and updated.   Required documentation:    • Regulation for voluntary certification • Application for Voluntary certification • List of Fees for voluntary certification    Certified Operators ----------------------------- For more information about the certifications offered by ICEA in the catering sector, please write to: Alessandro Pulga dir@icea.info.