Advertências relacionadas ao glúten em alimentos embalados, medicamentos e estabelecimentos comerciais: panorama regulatório no Brasil

Introduction: Unintentional gluten ingestion often occurs due to a lack of warning or misunderstanding of information about the presence and/or absence of gluten. For the gluten-free diet to be followed appropriately and safely, there must be regulatory measures and strategies for identifying gluten and food sources of this protein in foods, beverages, medicines, and places that sell or distribute food. Objective: To investigate current legislation on presence or absence of gluten in Brazil. Method: Documentary analysis of Brazilian legislation (federal, state, and municipal) related to gluten in foods, beverages, medicines, and places that sell or distribute food. Furthermore, legislation regarding the presentation of foods that do not contain gluten in commercial establishments was investigated. Examples of labels were photographed to illustrate the legislation. Results: Sixty-five laws were found that are current for the federal level (n=5), as well as in the state (n=41) and municipality (n=19) of 22 Brazilian states. These laws are aimed at packaged products (n=5) and establishments that sell food (n=60). Various legislations have non-specific warnings for gluten in relation to permitted expressions, where they must appear on the packaging and formatting. Inconsistencies were observed between warnings suggested in legislation and some products, in addition to non-conformities. Conclusions: For legislation to fulfill the purpose of protecting consumers who need to remove gluten from their diet, it is mandatory that, in addition to being implemented, there is supervision. Furthermore, it is suggested that legislation be updated at a national level.