Who is this choice for?

Hosts offering a sugar-free biscuit

Choose by the sugars figure for the exact biscuit, then keep its name and ingredient information with it when setting out the spread. A festive design or a gluten-free label is not a sugar-free claim.

Guests checking carbohydrate

Compare total carbohydrate and the portion you expect to eat, as well as sugars. NHS guidance for people with diabetes says to look at total carbohydrate on food labels, not just the sugars figure.

Hosts serving guests with allergies

Check the delivered pack’s ingredients and precautionary allergen wording before serving. The listed Gullon shortbread contains wheat and milk decoration; Farmhouse lists wheat and possible traces of milk, egg, soya and tree nuts.

What should you check?

Start with the exact biscuit’s sugars figure, then compare the details that affect how you will serve it. The sugar-free claim limit in the legislation.gov.uk annex is no more than 0.5 g sugars per 100 g for a solid food.

Priority What to check Your needs
Sugars claim Read sugars per 100 g on the exact pack. A ‘no added sugar’, gluten-free or festive description does not establish that the biscuit meets the sugar-free limit. I want to describe the biscuit accurately when offering it to guests, without relying on its packaging style.
Carbohydrate and portion Compare total carbohydrate per 100 g and the amount likely to be served. NHS guidance for people with diabetes distinguishes total carbohydrate from the sugars line. If carbohydrate matters for someone at the table, the sugars figure alone will not answer their question.
Sweeteners Check which sweeteners the ingredients list names and follow any warning on the pack. The NHS notes that polyols can have a laxative effect if consumed in large amounts. I would like guests to know what is in the biscuits, particularly if they may have several during the event.
Allergens Read the actual pack’s ingredients and ‘may contain’ wording. The listed Gullon shortbread contains wheat and milk decoration; Farmhouse lists wheat and possible traces of milk, egg, soya and tree nuts. When serving guests with allergies, I need to keep each biscuit’s ingredient information identifiable.
Biscuit style Check whether the product is described as shortbread or a related style. Gullon’s 330 g product is listed as shortbread; Farmhouse describes its Viennese Shorties as shortcake biscuits. For a traditional shortbread selection, the biscuit’s style matters alongside its sugar claim.

Common serving mistakes

  • Treating gluten-free festive shortbread as sugar-free

    Sainsbury's lists 22.6 g sugars per 100 g for its Free From Festive Shortbread. Its gluten-free description answers a different question.

    Read the sugars figure independently of the festive or gluten-free wording.

  • Judging the biscuit by sugars alone

    The listed sugar-free shortbread and Viennese Shorties also contain carbohydrate. A sugar-free claim does not describe their total carbohydrate or the portion served.

    Compare the nutrition panels and intended portions when carbohydrate matters.

  • Serving biscuits without their ingredient details

    The listed sugar-free options use sweeteners and contain wheat, while their milk information differs. Guests cannot identify those differences from a shared plate.

    Keep the original packaging available and identify each biscuit separately.

Relevant brand references

These examples refer to named products or ranges, not to every biscuit a brand makes.

Gullon

UK retailer Nutz4Nuts lists Gullon Sugar Free Shortbread Biscuits in a 330 g pack.

  • The retailer lists less than 0.5 g sugars per 100 g for that shortbread.
  • Its ingredients include wheat, milk decoration, maltitol and isomalt. Check the delivered pack rather than applying these details to the wider Gullon Zero range.

Farmhouse Biscuits

Its Sugar Free Viennese Shorties offer a shortbread-adjacent style for a biscuit spread.

  • Farmhouse lists 0.2 g sugars per 100 g for this product.
  • It describes the biscuits as shortcake, not traditional shortbread, and lists wheat and possible traces of milk, egg, soya and tree nuts.

Walker's

Walker's Shortbread Fingers are a conventional shortbread reference for a separate serving option.

  • Walker's lists butter in its 250 g Shortbread Fingers.
  • Walker's lists 16.2 g sugars per 100 g for those fingers, so that product is not the sugar-free option.

Dean's

Dean's Shortbread Rounds are another named conventional shortbread product.

  • Dean's provides per-100 g nutrition information for its 130 g rounds.
  • Those rounds list 17.10 g sugars per 100 g; the figure does not describe other Dean's products.

M&S

M&S lists shortbread gift formats and a Made Without Wheat shortbread option.

  • Its shortbread catalogue includes tins and festive shapes.
  • Those descriptions do not establish a sugar-free claim. Check the nutrition panel of any particular product.

Sainsbury's

Its Free From Festive Shortbread illustrates the difference between gluten-free and sugar-free descriptions.

  • Sainsbury's identifies this particular festive biscuit as gluten-free.
  • It lists 22.6 g sugars per 100 g and advises checking the pack because ingredients may change.

A Joybuy biscuit option

This Joybuy option is labelled sugar-free but is a digestive biscuit, not shortbread. Consider it for a mixed festival biscuit spread only if a digestive suits what you plan to serve.

Gullon Zero Sugar Free Original Digestives 400g

Gullon Zero Sugar Free Original Digestives 400g

This is a digestive biscuit rather than shortbread, so the difference in style matters if guests expect shortbread. Check the delivered pack’s sugars per 100 g, total carbohydrate, sweeteners and allergen information before presenting it as a sugar-free choice.

View on Joybuy

Questions about sugar-free shortbread

Does ‘no added sugar’ mean shortbread is sugar-free?

No. The legislation.gov.uk annex sets a limit of no more than 0.5 g sugars per 100 g for a sugar-free claim on solid food; ‘no added sugar’ is a different claim. Check the sugars figure for the exact biscuit.

Is sugar-free shortbread automatically suitable for someone with diabetes?

No. NHS guidance says to look at total carbohydrate on the label, not only sugars, and the portion also matters. Anyone taking insulin should follow advice from their diabetes team about snacks.

Does sugar-free also mean gluten-free or milk-free?

No. The listed Gullon Sugar Free Shortbread Biscuits contain wheat and milk decoration. Farmhouse lists wheat in its Sugar Free Viennese Shorties and warns of possible traces of milk, egg, soya and tree nuts; check the delivered pack before serving.

How should I keep biscuit information available at a festival spread?

Follow each chosen pack’s date and storage instructions, and keep its ingredient and allergen information with the biscuits when serving. Do not use one product’s instructions or ingredients to describe another.