Fashion retailer Zara has been forced to remove a t-shirt featuring a gluten-free slogan from sale, following a customer backlash.

The garment, with the words Are you gluten free?, prompted the setting up of an online petition entitled We do not want shirts with offensive messages for people with coeliac disease – which received more than 53,000 signatures before being marked as a victory.

Explaining that the slogan "caused me indignation" because the message was not "appropriate", the petition creator posted, "Coeliac disease is not a fad, nor is it a disease to take it in jest… The message of this shirt trivialises an important health problem."

On pulling the t-shirt, Zaras parent company Inditex commented, "We sincerely regret that this case might be interpreted as a trivialisation of coeliac disease, the absolute opposite of our intentions."

Not only does the t-shirt simply ask a question, rather than display gluten preferences in an offensive light, as suggested, but the accusation that it mocks coeliac disease can also be questioned given that the garment doesnt even mention said disease.

Gluten-free and being a coeliac sufferer, while of course associated, are not the same thing; just as enjoying the occasional meat-free meal and being a dedicated vegetarian are not the same.

Had the t-shirt asked, Are you coeliac intolerant? then I wouldnt question the fallout. But the fact is, the gluten-free market is gaining momentum and not solely as a result of medical reasons; according to Mintel, in the six months to September 2015, 22 per cent of Brits bought or ate gluten-free products. In addition, eight per cent of Brits report avoidance of gluten as part of a healthy lifestyle, compared to five per cent who report avoidance due to an allergy or intolerance.

If the combination of dietary preferences and fashion is coming under fire, Asda should consider itself lucky that it got away with this  Say no to sprouts this Christmas t-shirt that it sold over the festive period.