Gluten-Free Barley is Now a Thing
Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has developed a hulled barley with ultra-low levels of gluten that has won the designation as the first World Health Organization (WHO)-approved "gluten-free" barley, known as Kebari barley.
Kebari barley was developed using conventional plant breeding methods and has 10,000 times less of the type of gluten (known as hordeins) found in regular barley. To be considered gluten-free by the WHO, grain must have less than 20 parts of gluten per million, and Kebari has about 5 parts of gluten per million.
The first beer brewed with Kebari barley is Germany's Radeberger Pionier Pilsener, which is currently only available in Germany. The gluten-free beer is the first of its kind in Germany to still fall under Reinheitsgebot, the German Beer Purity Law that allows only water, barley, hops, and yeast to be used in beer brewing.
