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Kicking off Coeliac Week (May 9-13) at a round table discussion sponsored by Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) and hosted by Cost Sector Catering magazine, industry representatives agreed that despite progress there is much work to do.

They identified ‘trust’ as a crucial component of the relationship between caterers and customers.

TV chef and UFS gluten-free champion Phil Vickery told fellow round table panelists: “Can the customer trust a menu that promises a dish is gluten-free? It only takes one slip, one bad experience when eating out and that trust is lost.”

According to the experts round the table, the major challenges facing the catering and hospitality industry when it comes to celiac disease are: cross contamination; a lack of communication between back and front of house staff; the need to increase the education of catering teams about gluten intolerance and how ill sufferers can become; the confusion sometimes caused by those who make gluten-free a lifestyle choice; and the desirability of all food operators achieving a gluten-free accreditation.

Sarah Sleet, chief executive of Coeliac UK, added that the amount of slack built into the regulations meant that achieving a gluten-free operation was not as onerous for caterers to achieve as many might believe.

The round table was chaired by Cost Sector Catering editor David Foad and included Tracey Rogers, chief executive of UFS; Anne Maloney of Coeliac UK; Ian Nottage of the Craft Guild of Chefs; Wendy Bartlett of contract caterer Bartlett Mitchell; Geoff Booth, chair of the Professional Association for Catering Education (PACE); Caroline Lecko, patient safety lead with NHS England; Leon Mills, Knorr marketing manager; Lara Sturrock, Artisan Gluten Free Bakery; Wendy Duncan, product development with UFS; and Sarah Sleet, Coeliac UK.

A full report of the discussion will be published in the June issue of Cost Sector Catering. See below to watch exclusive video interviews with some of yesterday's speakers.