As you’ve heard, the FDA has FINALLY published a ruling on gluten-free labeling on August 2nd, 2013. This is a huge deal–it was due out 5 years ago and was a 9 year process. A lot of time, energy and effort went into making this happen, both from the national advocacy groups and all the individuals who wrote letters, signed petitions, etc. It’s a huge victory for the gluten-free community.
The highlights:
- It will define “gluten-free” as containing less than 20ppm of gluten.
- It will take effect in August 2014
- It is VOLUNTARY. It’s only for manufacturers who choose to label their products as gluten-free.
- It covers only foods under the FDA AND it covers dietary supplements.
- This law doesn’t cover meat, eggs, poultry, alcohol, medications, etc.
- It DOES cover cross-contamination.
- Gluten-free=no gluten=without gluten=free of gluten
- All the gluten-free seals out there from GIG, CSA and more will be unaffected by this regulation.
The main unexpected part: naturally gluten-free foods are allowed to be labeled as gluten-free, and must contain less than 20ppm of gluten.
I don’t need to re-create the wheel here because there are great summaries:
My thoughts and and a summary are here from an article by the Washingtonian.
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