What is in this article?:
- Gluten-free community wants labeling regs
- FDA gluten-free label regs long overdue for many
- What are safe gluten levels?
- Manufacturer and retailer responsibility
- The bottom line: This is a health safety issue
- 1in133 event
It's been 7 years since the FDA was tasked with creating gluten-free labeling regs and still no standards. Meanwhile, anybody can put a "gluten-free" label on anything (one man was just sentenced to prison for labeling wheat products as gluten-free). The gluten-free community and natural products industry want the FDA to act and are heading to Washington, D.C. for the first Gluten Free Labeling Summit in May.
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Last week a North Carolina man was found guilty of selling bakery products labeled as homemade and gluten-free that were actually wheat products he bought from stores including Costco and Sam’s Club. Paul Seelig was charged with and found guilty of “obtaining property by false pretenses.” The court couldn’t press charges on him for mislabeling, however, because currently no federal gluten-free labeling standard exists; consumers simply have to hope manufacturers are truthfully labeling products as gluten-free.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was tasked seven years ago with issuing a gluten-free labeling standard but the ruling has yet to come. To draw attention to FDA’s inaction, a growing number of gluten-free advocates are sponsoring the first Gluten Free Food Labeling Summit in Washington, D.C. The May 4 event will feature speeches and members of the gluten-free community delivering gluten-free cake to lawmakers working to get attention to the issue.