What does gluten-free mean?

Gluten is a protein that makes up 80% of the protein in wheat, rye, and barley.

Roughly explained, gluten is the same as the glue that keeps the bread together. It makes the bread firm and gives it shape. Without gluten, the bread would collapse.

Gluten proteins in wheat, rye, and barley promote illnesses for people with celiacs (people with a type of gluten intolerance).

Oat proteins (avenins) contain such small amounts of protein that oats can be ingested and tolerated to a limited extent by most celiacs. This presupposes that the oats are certified gluten-free, i.e. that it has not been contaminated by wheat, barley or rye during cultivation or processing (e.g. rolled into oatmeal on the same mill as, for example, wheat flakes.