Alfieri/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
In the two decades Andy Carnovale has lived with celiac disease, gluten-free pastas, breads and baked goods have become less crumbly, less dry and more flavourful. But they haven’t become any cheaper.
Mr. Carnovale, a retired school vice-principal in Courtice, east of Toronto, says he spends an extra $3,000 a year on gluten-free versions of regular household staples: “You gotta get used to paying three times or five times more than others do.”
Grocery costs have been rising at a rate higher than overall inflation for years. With no sign of relief in sight, associations representing people with celiac disease and food allergies are calling on Ottawa to provide tangible support for those forced to spend more on specialty diets necessary for their health.
“People are making some really hard choices,” said Melissa Secord, national executive director of Celiac Canada. They’re either skipping meals, going hungry or “eating foods that are likely to make them sick.”
Mr. Carnovale said he elected to take his Canada Pension Plan payments at age 61 – meaning he now receives a permanently lower monthly amount than he would have if he’d waited until age 65 – to manage significant out-of-pocket health expenses. Gluten-free food represented a “decent chunk” of those costs, he said.
The grocery code of conduct takes effect in January. Its first enforcer has a ‘big job’ ahead
An estimated 350,000 people in Canada have celiac disease, an autoimmune condition that causes damage to the small intestine when gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley, is ingested. An additional roughly three million people, or 7.5 per cent of all Canadians, have a food allergy.
Ms. Secord noted that prolonged damage to the intestines from eating gluten-containing food inhibits the body’s ability to absorb important minerals and vitamins, increasing the likelihood of developing anemia or osteoporosis, and can also increase the risk of cancer.
Celiac Canada has long advocated for a simple refundable tax credit of $1,000 a year for adults with celiac disease and $600 a year for children. Currently, people can claim the price difference between gluten-containing and gluten-free products as a medical expense.
The organization’s most recent petition to the House of Commons, which had more than 33,000 signatures when it expired in early December, will be tabled in the House in the new year by petition sponsor Sonia Sidhu, the Liberal MP for Brampton South.
Ms. Secord said the association expects to receive a written response to the petition from the government early in the new year.
A recent Statistics Canada Consumer Price Index report found the cost of groceries rose 3.4 per cent year-over-year as of October, a slight drop from the previous month but outpacing overall inflation for the ninth straight month. Food prices are 27 per cent higher than five years ago, according to a Dalhousie University report that forecasted a rise of between 4 and 6 per cent in prices in 2026. The report estimated the average family of four would spend nearly $1,000 more on food in 2026.
Average family of four will spend $994 more on food next year, report projects
Gluten-free products cost about 150 to 500 per cent more than regular food, and prices rose faster compared to gluten-containing foods during the pandemic, says a 2024 report by Celiac Canada.
A quick scan through the grocery aisles at a store in early December reveals significant differences. A loaf of regular bread typically costs about $3, while a smaller frozen loaf of gluten-free bread can cost about $8 or more. A 900-gram bag of discount-brand pasta runs about $2, while the cheapest available gluten-free alternative, a bag half the size, costs $2.99. A 585-gram box of cereal costs $5.50, while a smaller, 340-gram box of gluten-free cereal costs $4.50.
Almost half of Canadian households who have children with celiac disease found it hard to afford gluten-free food, according to a January study from the University of Alberta, and 30 per cent had difficulty finding the products, a share that was higher among rural and remote families.
Families with food allergies spent an average of $190 more a month on food pre-pandemic than those without. In a report to Ottawa ahead of the 2025 federal budget, Food Allergy Canada and the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology advocated for the government to find ways to compensate lower-income families who might buy food that could contain their allergen because it’s more affordable, putting themselves at risk.
Forget a recession. What Canadians are living through is worse
Under the current system, Canadians with celiac disease can claim the additional money they pay on gluten-free foods as a medical expense. They have to tally how many of the items – for example, gluten-free loaves of bread or packets of gluten-free pasta – they bought in a year, and then compare them against the price of equivalent products with gluten in them, to calculate their total medical expense. They also need an official diagnosis letter from a doctor to be able to make the claim.
Most people don’t bother with the time-consuming and difficult process, Ms. Secord said. The ones who do get very little taken off their total tax bill. “If you’re at all economically vulnerable, have health literacy challenges, you’re relying on food banks, it’s next to impossible” to claim, she said.
A non-refundable credit has virtually no benefit for lower-income Canadians, she added.
There’s also the complication of being audited and asked to substantiate out-of-pocket medical expenses. Mr. Carnovale said he was audited by the Canada Revenue Agency twice in two years. “The first experience was brutal,” he said, recalling uploading 60 pages of receipts to prove his expenses.
Natalie Riediger, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba, researches food equity. She said gluten-free food is more expensive because of the type of flour used.
Because of its widespread popularity, wheat flour is less expensive than alternate flours such as rice, potato or almond, which are manufactured and sold in smaller quantities. Gluten-free products also can’t be made at the same scale because of the lower demand.
Food producers have to prevent contamination along the supply chain, as well as in their facilities, if they produce both gluten-free and gluten-containing products, Dr. Riediger said. For example, oats are naturally gluten-free but “most oats you buy are contaminated from wheat flour, because of how they’re processed and the trucks that transport wheat are also the ones that transport oats.”
Ms. Secord noted that gluten-free producers also face strict compliance measures, including independent audits and extra testing, that raise costs for producers.