Coconut flour contains no gluten-forming proteins, but that is not the same thing as being able to make the claim. In the Union the gluten-free statement is regulated by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 828/2014, which sets the threshold the food as sold must meet and the separate conditions for a “very low gluten” statement. Eligibility depends on the supply chain, not on the botany.
Why it works this way
The regulation attaches the claim to an analytical outcome in the finished food, not to the absence of a gluten-containing ingredient. A naturally gluten-free raw material that is milled on equipment shared with wheat, transported in a bulk vehicle previously carrying cereals, or packed on a line handling gluten-bearing flours can exceed the threshold without any gluten-containing ingredient ever being added.
Three controls therefore stand between the raw material and the claim.
Segregation and cleaning at the mill and the packing line, validated for the changeover rather than assumed. See allergen management in mixed facilities.
Analytical verification at a defined frequency. The R5 sandwich ELISA method is the routine approach and is recognised as a Codex type 1 method under Codex standard CXS 118-1979 on foods for special dietary use for persons intolerant to gluten.
Traceability through the chain, including transport, because bulk logistics is where most unexplained results originate.
Third-party gluten-free certification schemes exist and are widely used in retail. They are voluntary, they typically apply their own threshold at or below the regulatory one, and they add audited verification. A certification mark is a commercial reassurance layered on top of the legal requirement, not a substitute for it.
What follows in practice
If you intend to carry the claim, require the supplier to state the threshold met, the test method, the testing frequency and the segregation controls, and require notification before any change to the milling or packing arrangement. The coconut flour product record sets out the rest of the specification.