A brief history of our achievements

We have a long history of making a difference and helping people not having a life limited by coeliac disease. Here’s some of our key achievements.  

2014 – 2024 

• We launched our Gluten free Guarantee (GfG) campaign, and Asda was the first supermarket to sign up to the scheme

• Coeliac UK announced a new partnership with Marks & Spencer, with the supermarket pledging to support our campaigns for the next three years

• Leading UK supermarket Morrisons signed up to the Gluten-free Guarantee scheme, joining Asda as a location where people with coeliac disease can be sure to find their staple food shop

• A YouGov omnibus survey showed public awareness of coeliac disease to be at an all-time high, rising from 65% in 2015, to 80% in 2017, due to our work

• Live Well Gluten Free magazine launches for members 

• Gluten Free Food Checker app wins Best Use of an App category at the MemCom Membership Excellence Awards

2004 – 2013 

• In 2005 Coeliac UK hosted the Association of European Coeliac Societies Annual Conference for the first time in Edinburgh
• In 2006, the Charity worked in partnership with several MPs and Peers to establish the All Party Parliamentary Group on coeliac disease

• The Charity succeeded in winning a £9 million grant from the EU as part of a pan European collaboration to develop a new point of care diagnostic tool

• We worked with the Food Standards Agency to promote a change to the gluten free labelling standard which would, based on research carried out by Coeliac UK the previous year, provide increased clarity for Members. The results of this work finally appeared in November when, after 13 years of debate, a new worldwide standard was approved for final ratification in 2008

• A petition with over 8,000 signatures demanding better diagnosis is handed in to Number 10 Downing Street by the Charity’s Health Ambassador, Dr Chris Steele 

• Our Gluten free Chef of the Year competition incorporates a live cook off for the first time, with a judging panel headed up by our Food Ambassador, Phil Vickery 

• Launch of our first services to support the catering industry with new catering trademarks for accredited restaurants. Domino’s and Pizza Hut become the first catering chains to take up the symbols

• Our first app is developed to provide Members with on the move access to our Food and Drink Directory and Venue Guide

1968-2003 

• Coeliac UK was founded in 1968 by Elizabeth Segall, wife of a doctor and mother of a child with coeliac disease, and Peter Benenson, who had the condition and is also well known as a founder of Amnesty International

• Gluten free symbol launched 1971

• 30,000 copies of the food list (the beginning of the Food and Drink Directory) is printed