Coeliacs can buy gluten-free bread freshly baked in Malta from today after Golden Harvest invested €350,000 in a production facility at its bakery in San Ġwann.

The first range of products consists of gluten-free bread rolls, burger buns, pizza bases and vanilla and chocolate muffins.

CEO Mark Aquilina explained that the newly built facilities included a hermetically sealed, gluten-free area.

The raw materials are sourced from approved suppliers, tested and given a certificate of analysis before dispatch.

They are then packed safely and transported in a separate area to ensure no cross-contamination occurs.

Once the goods arrive, they are taken into a special holding area to ensure all are intact, wiped over and then moved to a safe storage area.

The bakery for gluten-free products is enclosed using a positive air ventilation system, ensuring no foul air can enter.

All operators entering the bakery must remove their clothing and wear protective hairnets, overalls and shoes. The products are then packed and sold in plastic bags.

Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne, who visited the San Ġwann premises yesterday, said coeliacs were quite common in Malta. There are currently some 1,200 people registered under the Schedule V scheme, known as karta safra, who get free products from the Birkirkara health centre.

“Producing gluten-free bread is a big responsibility – coeliacs cannot tolerate a single trace of gluten.”

The government, he continued, was in close contact with Coeliac Association Malta and was planning to roll out new initiatives including a wider range of gluten-free products, which coeliacs could acquire under the yellow card scheme, as well as possibly extending the places from where these could be acquired.

What is coeliac disease?

Coeliac disease is a condition that creates inflammation in the small intestine and damage in the lining in reaction to gluten.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.

It is found mainly in foods but may also be present in other products like medicines, vitamins and supplements, lip balm, and even the glue on stamps and envelopes.

Symptoms include bloating, gas, diarrhoea, weight loss or gain, constant fatigue or weakness, headaches, infertility, depression that does not respond to medication, abdominal pain, bone pain and anaemia.