Chef backs campaign for gluten-free foods

TV CHEF Phil Vickery is calling on restaurants across the country to provide more gluten-free options on their menus for people with coeliac disease.

The This Morning and Ready Steady Cook chef is backing national charity Coeliac UK's awareness campaign week, which begins on Monday.

The initiative aims to promote understanding about coeliac disease and highlight the need for gluten-free provision in the hospitality industry.

Vickery, who is Coeliac UK's food ambassador, said: "I'm passionate about improving understanding in the food industry on the need for more gluten-free cooking as more and more people are diagnosed.

"Currently, eating out is a lottery for people with coeliac disease."

Coeliac UK said there were about 600,000 people in the UK with coeliac disease, an auto-immune disease caused by intolerance to gluten. If someone with the disease eats food containing gluten – which is found in wheat, barley and rye – they can become ill within hours.