Empty Shelves

Increasingly harder to find gluten-free food in Ukraine

  • 6th May 2022
  • 2 min read

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

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

Aid To Ukraine

Photo: Heartwarming pictures from Ukrainian families that received food packages. All parents have given their consent to publish these pictures.

How you can help

Companies and private individuals can support by sending donations to the AOECS Central Emergency Fund with the following bank details:

Bank name: KBC Banque Brussels
IBAN: BE66 7360 3218 2543
SWIFT/BIC: KREDBEBB
Mark payment with: “Donation for Ukrainian Coeliacs”

If you rather want to donate to a local bank in your country, please visit the website of the National Coeliac Society in your country or contact them for advice.