At the core of any celiac shoppers shopping list is buying products that are gluten free. But what exactly does that mean? Do you buy foods that have no ingredients that could possibly contain gluten grains, or are you willing to risk buying foods that are classed as gluten free, because they contain an amount of gluten that 'someone' has assessed as safe?
It would appear that the more experienced celiac shopper knows what ingredients to look out for, however some very experienced gluten free shoppers still report feeling sick from manufactured foods purporting to be gluten free. As the information below will show, it all appears to be in the acceptable level that countries are willing to legislate.
The three most progressive legislation regions appear to be the US, Europe and Australia. These areas will be discussed in this order.
EUROPE LEGISLATION
Previous GFP research suggests that Europe maybe one of the most gluten free aware regions on earth, however they have very low online search habits. This may of course be due to low rates of celiac disease and/ or high availability of gluten free food in the general community.
Regarding the labeling requirements: "In Europe, the Codex Commission approved 20ppm as an accepted threshold for gluten in 'gluten-free' products in 2008, in the first update to guidelines since 1983. The limit was massively cut from 200ppm to 20ppm - and it claims this level is considered to pose no risk to celiac sufferers. The reason for the change is that low levels are more easily attainable than 25 years ago due to technological advances allowing for more accurate detection of minute gluten traces."
USA LABELING
The US is one of the largest physical and online demand gluten free markets in the world. With its progressive technological and health advances you may expect that it also leads global labelling laws.
However gluten free products appear to be an exception. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) introduced the Food Allergen Labeling & Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) in 2006, this was for the following eight food allergens "Milk, egg, wheat, soy, peanut, tree nuts, fish, and crustacean shellfish." By 2007 the FDA PROPOSED that gluten SHOULD be labeled at anything over 20mg per kg (20ppm) - but this has yet to be ratified.
Thus while many manufacturers are voluntarily following this guideline "Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found 25 different types of advisory term including 'may contain', 'shared equipment' and 'within plant'. Additionally, they found that 65 percent of products listed non-specific terms, such as 'natural flavours' and 'spices', and that 83 percent of those were not linked to any specific ingredients." This suggests that gluten could potentially be hiding among the non-specific terms.
It would appear that the more experienced celiac shopper knows what ingredients to look out for, however some very experienced gluten free shoppers still report feeling sick from manufactured foods purporting to be gluten free. As the information below will show, it all appears to be in the acceptable level that countries are willing to legislate.
The three most progressive legislation regions appear to be the US, Europe and Australia. These areas will be discussed in this order.
EUROPE LEGISLATION
Previous GFP research suggests that Europe maybe one of the most gluten free aware regions on earth, however they have very low online search habits. This may of course be due to low rates of celiac disease and/ or high availability of gluten free food in the general community.
Regarding the labeling requirements: "In Europe, the Codex Commission approved 20ppm as an accepted threshold for gluten in 'gluten-free' products in 2008, in the first update to guidelines since 1983. The limit was massively cut from 200ppm to 20ppm - and it claims this level is considered to pose no risk to celiac sufferers. The reason for the change is that low levels are more easily attainable than 25 years ago due to technological advances allowing for more accurate detection of minute gluten traces."
USA LABELING
The US is one of the largest physical and online demand gluten free markets in the world. With its progressive technological and health advances you may expect that it also leads global labelling laws.
However gluten free products appear to be an exception. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) introduced the Food Allergen Labeling & Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) in 2006, this was for the following eight food allergens "Milk, egg, wheat, soy, peanut, tree nuts, fish, and crustacean shellfish." By 2007 the FDA PROPOSED that gluten SHOULD be labeled at anything over 20mg per kg (20ppm) - but this has yet to be ratified.
Thus while many manufacturers are voluntarily following this guideline "Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found 25 different types of advisory term including 'may contain', 'shared equipment' and 'within plant'. Additionally, they found that 65 percent of products listed non-specific terms, such as 'natural flavours' and 'spices', and that 83 percent of those were not linked to any specific ingredients." This suggests that gluten could potentially be hiding among the non-specific terms.