As the Church of England’s General Synod begins, an issue has been raise over dietary requirements in relation to bread and wine.

The eucharist – or communion – is the act of receiving bread and wine, symbolising Jesus’s body and blood when he died on the cross.

Rev Canon Alice Kemp is proposing a motion to expand inclusivity by permitting the use of gluten-free bread and non-alcoholic wine during communion.

She said: “Both priests and congregants who are unable to consume gluten and/or alcohol are forced to receive in one kind only or may be prohibited from receiving both elements if they are unable to consume both gluten and alcohol.”

However, according to the church’s rules, the bread must be made from flour and the wine from fermented grapes.

Canon B 17 states: “The bread, whether leavened or unleavened, shall be of the best and purest wheat flour that conveniently may be gotten, and the wine the fermented juice of the grape, good and wholesome.”

Flour contains gluten, and the process of fermentation results in alcohol. Gluten-free bread is made using ground rice or potato starch instead of wheat flour.

A spokesperson for the Church of England says that currently, there are ‘non-alcoholic’ and ‘gluten-free’ options available in churches – yet both alternatives contain very low traces of alcohol or gluten, making them technically legitimate communion under the canon.  

“Church of England churches across the country routinely offer ‘gluten free’ bread or ‘non-alcoholic’ wine at Holy Communion,” they state.

“Many professional ecclesiastical suppliers have long provided wine or bread which may contain tiny traces of alcohol or wheat which can legitimately be considered non-alcoholic or gluten free.”

Foods which contain less the 20 parts of gluten per milligram can be labelled gluten-free.

One in every 100 people experience coeliac disease, whereby their body has a negative autoimmune response to consuming gluten, according to the charity Coeliac UK.