Increasingly harder to find gluten-free food in Ukraine

Tough situation for people with coeliac disease in Ukraine
The Ukrainian Coeliac Society reports that it is getting increasingly harder for Ukrainians to find gluten-free food in stores inside Ukraine. The selection has become very limited and in some cities, there are no gluten-free products to be found at all.

The main reason for this is that many domestic gluten-free food producers have had to stop the production since they are situated in the so-called hot spots where the war conditions make it impossible to continue normal work.

AOECS humanitarian aid is reaching its destination
But there are bright spots in the dark. In April the Polish Coeliac Society, with financial support from the AOECS Emergency Fund, managed to ship three large humanitarian aid deliveries to the cities of Kyiv, Stryi and Vinnitsa.

The Ukrainian Coeliac Society then managed to distribute 750 food parcels with gluten-free products to other regions inside Ukraine, such as Dnipro, Lvov, Kirovograd, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Rivne, Ternopol, Ivano-Frankivsk, Sumy, Kherson, Odesa, Nikolaev, Melitopol and Zakarpathea.

- I have no words to express my gratitude to you for your efforts towards helping Ukraine. I wish you could see the shining eyes of our children when they receive packages with humanitarian aid and hear the words of gratitude from their parents. Especially those who received them in hot spots, where children are witnessing indescribable events, says Olga Naumova from the Ukrainian Coeliac Society and sends us some heartwarming photos from grateful Ukrainian families.

Interested in helping?
If you are a food producer of gluten-free products and want to participate in helping Ukrainian coeliacs with food or money, please contact your local national coeliac society.