Well it's about time! After more than six years, the FDA is finally showing some love for gluten free labeling. Here's a link to the
ABC article, but in a nutshell, companies will only be allowed to utilize gfree phrasing on their items if it's 20 ppm (parts per million) or less.
To put the whole ppm into perspective, the University of Minnesota provides some helpful analogies that may help you visualize the scale involved with ppm.
One ppm is like:
• one inch in 16 miles, or
• one second in 11.5 days, or
• one minute in two years, or
• one car in bumper-to-bumper traffic from Cleveland to San Francisco
Doesn't seem like much right? Well to someone with Celiac disease it is. Trust me. Sounds absolutely crazy, I know. BUT SERIOUSLY...JUST TRUST ME.
There's good and bad with this of course. Check out the labels below from two products I've eaten.
The 'good' is that manufacturers in the top pic will have to continue to test for gluten at or below 20 ppm in order to claim it's gluten free. They will have to consistently look at the contamination in their facilities and how it impacts the ppm's.
The bad is this-- why isn't the FDA insisting that barley and rye also be listed as a top allergen? The above only shows wheat. There are three components to gluten--wheat, barley and rye. Barley is hidden in so many things but isn't listed. That barley is tricky.
Regardless though, I stopped eating anything with the top claim because if you are manufacturing on the same equipment or facility with wheat, there is a remote chance it's in my food.
It makes me second guess if it's gfree
and I want no parts of that.
The bottom label is great because it's certified gluten free. Most certifications test at 5-10ppm. And two- the label clearly indicates that there is no wheat in their facility.
All in all-- it's a huge pain! You constantly feel like a private investigator scouring over labels and ingredients. So, I've found that if you stick to natural foods that aren't processed, you tend to have less of a headache...pun intended.
But what happens when you want a snack? Like candy or chips? Because let's face it. I can't be good all the time. Well, those are the times that you go into Sprouts, Whole Foods or Roots and buy an overpriced bag of non-gmo, gfree chips or gfree chocolate that have been produced in a certified gfree facility with no stinking gluten on the premises...grrrr! And speaking of price-- now that manufacturers have to do this and have a year to comply, prices on gfree food will only get higher. And that my friends is a whole other
talk show blog post.
