About GlutenFreeMap

Our mission

GlutenFreeMap exists to solve a specific problem: in Spain, information about where to eat gluten-free is scattered across regional coeliac associations, collaborative maps, and disparate reviews. We bring those sources together into a single bilingual directory and map, with a safety score for people with coeliac disease, so that finding a reliable place doesn't mean searching ten different websites.

Who's behind it

Rubén Batanero

Founder of GlutenFreeMap

I'm Rubén Batanero, an engineer by training —with a double degree in Aerospace Systems and Telecommunication Systems Engineering— and the maker of several digital products. I launched GlutenFreeMap on my own in October 2025, out of a personal experience. On a trip with my partner —who has coeliac disease and was diagnosed recently— I learned what eating out as a coeliac really means: finding "gluten-free options" isn't enough; you need places that are safe. We'd spend hours combing through reviews and questioning staff about cross-contamination, and the uncertainty never went away. No single place pulled all that information together and showed it clearly and usefully. My contribution here isn't medical, it's technical: turning scattered data into a tool you can rely on. So I decided to build it.

How we build the map

We don't make the data up — we gather it from public sources and cross-check it. Every listing on the map is built from three kinds of source:

• OpenStreetMap (via the Overpass API): the collaborative base of venues and their core details.
• Listings from regional coeliac associations: the local reference for the establishments that cater to gluten-free diners in each autonomous community.
• Google Places: to complete each venue's contact details, opening hours, and services.

We then match and de-duplicate those records —the same restaurant can appear across several sources under slightly different names— and enrich them into a single, coherent listing.

Today the map brings together more than 5,700 restaurants in Spain —and thousands more around the world. Most come from reasonably reliable sources, but all are listed as "gluten-free" according to their origin; that's exactly why the safety score exists: to curate that data and improve it with the community's experience.

What the safety score is (and isn't)

Every venue has a safety score from 0 to 100. We start by classifying each restaurant's source into three reliability tiers, with an initial score of 25, 50, or 75. From there, the community votes: an algorithm weights those votes —more reliable users count for more, and lowering a score is easier than raising it— so that, over time, it's people's real-world experience that determines how safe each place is.

This creates a useful spectrum: a high score signals places suited to coeliacs, who need strict cross-contamination control; mid-range scores may suit people with gluten sensitivity or intolerance, or those following a gluten-free diet by choice who don't require that same level of control.

The score is guidance, not a medical guarantee or an official certification. It does not replace marks such as the coeliac associations' "Crossed Grain" symbol, nor asking the restaurant directly about its cross-contamination procedures.

The "gluten-free" standard and cross-contamination

In the European Union, a food may only be labelled "gluten-free" if it contains no more than 20 mg/kg of gluten (20 ppm), under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 828/2014, applicable since July 2016. The "very low gluten" statement is reserved for products with a maximum of 100 mg/kg.

In Spain, the Federation of Coeliac Associations of Spain (FACE) certifies products through the European "Crossed Grain" licensing system (ELS), which guarantees a gluten content of 20 ppm or below. This system replaced the former "Controlado por FACE" mark in 2020.

Cross-contamination happens when a naturally gluten-free food comes into contact with gluten during preparation, cooking, or serving —for example, shared fryers, toasters, surfaces, or utensils. That's why a "naturally gluten-free" dish (rice, pulses, grilled fish) is only safe if it's prepared while avoiding that contact. It's the key question we recommend you always confirm at each restaurant.

How we keep information current

Every listing shows its last-updated date so you know how recent it is. We add and reprocess new sources every few weeks —the time we need to handle the data carefully— while the community keeps the day-to-day information alive: anyone can flag errors, closures, or changes through the contact page, and we review those contributions before updating the map. It's ongoing work: no directory is ever truly "finished".