At long last, the FDA sets standards for gluten-free labeling.
Ted Kennedy pushed for gluten to be included among the allergens that must be clearly labeled on the ingredients list, and he unfortunately failed. But at least with this new rule, companies will have to meet a standard definition before they can claim that something is gluten-free.
This will be a great help to people with Celiac, with Dermatitis herpetiformis, gluten-sensitive Crohn's disease, gluten-sensitive IBS, and other forms of gluten sensitivity.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/02/fda-gluten-free-labeling-rules/2610841/
After years of waiting, the Food and Drug Administration released new rules Friday defining exactly what "gluten-free" on a food label means. The standardized definition will help the 3 million American who have celiac disease, along with millions more who follow a gluten-free diet for other reasons.
Under the federal definition, which FDA has been working on since 2007, food that carries a "gluten-free" label must contain fewer than 20 parts per million of gluten.
With the new rule, when consumers see "gluten-free" on a food label," they can be assured that those claims have meaning," said Michael Taylor, the FDA's deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine.
Gluten is a protein that occurs naturally in wheat, rye and barley. Celiac disease is an inherited auto-immune condition that makes it impossible for those who have it to digest gluten. If they eat gluten, their bodies produce antibodies that attack and damage the lining of the small intestine. This can cause severe health problems including nutritional deficiencies, osteoporosis, growth retardation, infertility, miscarriages, short stature and intestinal cancers.
SNIP