Northcote’s Sweet Salt is first in Australia to earn Coeliac Australia Accreditation

A fish and chip shop in Melbourne’s north has become the first in Australia to be officially recognised as 100 per cent gluten free.

Northcote’s Sweet Salt owner James Baker with Chloe, 13, and Matthew, 8. Picture: Ellen Smith

THERE are no red herrings at fish and chip shop Sweet Salt, just 100 per cent guaranteed gluten free food.

The popular Northcote eatery has become the first fish and chip shop in Australia to gain official accreditation from the peak body for coeliac disease, Coeliac Australia.

Sweet Salt chef and owner James Baker said he’d been working on his gluten free batter for more than two years but customers agreed it was better than the original.

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The shop had to pass a number of strict tests including on-site audits, staff training and laboratory testing of menu items, but Mr Baker said it would all be worth it in the end.

“A lot of businesses say they’re gluten free but they don’t have separate fryers or anything,” he said.

“Now we’re accredited there will be a lot more trust and a lot more people who have coeliac will come here.”

The accreditation comes as a groundbreaking study published in the Medical Journal of Australia revealed one in 11 samples of gluten free foods sold in the city of Melbourne were found have potentially harmful levels of gluten.

The study conducted undercover testing of 127 food businesses across the municipality and tested 158 food items sold as gluten-free.