The Association felt the need to clarify the overall situation following its original post:
- The food items appearing on the POYC list have not changed; however, “gluten free chocolate related products” are being excluded. POYC claim that this is in line with the National Health Strategy.
- The two versions of the list and the booklet on the National Health Strategy, all provided by POYC, are listed below so that anyone can verify.
- POYC believe that the problems coeliacs have been experiencing for a long time originate from the definition of “Gluten Free / GF” in contracts with the shops participating in the scheme.
- To address this, POYC amended the definition of GF to “products made from naturally GF items and made in a way that can be labelled ‘gluten free’ and fall under the staple food list.” These changes will come into force in May 2017
- The Association cannot answer on behalf of POYC regarding the decision to exclude chocolate; POYC simply did not discuss this with the Association. All queries and/or comments on this matter need to be addressed directly to POYC on info.poyc@gov.mt
Product Lists and Healthy Eating Booklet: