New definition for gluten-free foods

There’s nothing ambiguous about the term ‘gluten-free’, right? Well, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) thinks there is. It has just published a new regulation defining the term for voluntary food labelling.

The new definition will standardise the meaning of gluten-free claims across the US food industry. It requires that, in order to use the term ‘gluten-free’ on its label, a food must meet all of the requirements of the definition, including that the food must contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten. Foods with the claims ‘no gluten’, ‘free of gluten’ and ‘without gluten’ must also meet the definition for ‘gluten-free’.

US food manufacturers will have 12 months after the rule is published to bring their labels into compliance with the new requirements.

The FDA was directed to issue the new regulation by the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA), which directed the FDA to set guidelines for the use of the term ‘gluten-free’ to help people with coeliac disease maintain a gluten-free diet.

“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 coeliac disease to identify foods that meet the federal definition of ‘gluten-free’,” said Michael R Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine.

The regulation was published today in the Federal Register.