BREAKING NEWS! New Gluten-Free Labeling Standard Announced by FDA

The new FDA Labeling Rule printed up! 1/2 inch thick!

Breaking news in the celiac and gluten-free world…it has finally it happened!  In a year, companies who want to cater to the gluten-free market will have to adhere to the Food and Drug Administrations rules that were published this morning.

The FDA says in order to use the term “gluten-free” on a label companies must:

• ensure the food contains less than 20 parts per million of gluten
• ensure labels that claim “no gluten”, “free of gluten” and “without gluten” must also meet the definition of gluten-free.
• “have one year after this rule is published” to make their changes.

Michael R. Taylor, FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, says in a news release this morning, “We encourage the food industry to come into compliance with the new definition as soon as possible and help us make it as easy as possible for people with celiac disease to identify foods that meet the federal definition of ‘gluten-free'”.

Again, don’t forget this is a voluntary rule.  Only for those who want to put gluten-free on their labels.  It is not mandatory for all companies.

Either way, this is huge news!  I am going to delve into the 1/2 inch stack of of the rule all printed out on my table, get into the details and report back today!  Want to talk about it on social media?  Use #GFis20PPM on Twitter or Facebook.  We’ll be chatting about it all day on The Savvy Celiac Facebook page.

Tags: celiac, FDA, gluten-free, labeling