NOTE: A REVISED, EXPANDED,  AND UPDATED VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE IS AVAILABLE. CLICK HERE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MOVE TO IT.

7/21/07 “A product is classified as Gluten free if it carries an appropriate mark, symbol or declaration to that effect”. That’s absolutely all I got from the google search engine when I asked it to define the term Gluten Free.   How do we know which foods deserve that “appropriate mark, symbol, or declaration”?

  The most common definition is the one created by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and written into a document called The Codex Alimantarius. Foods with less than 200 parts per million gluten are considered gluten free. Click here for a more detailed explanation.

  (Note: in order to fully understand this article, you need to grasp the idea of parts per million. For example, 1 part per million is the equivalent of 1 minute in two years. For other examples, take a look at this a article published by the Celiac Sprue Association.)

  Other definitions exist. Canadian products must contain no more than 20 parts per million to be labeled “gluten free”. In America, the Gluten-Free Certification Program (a project of The Gluten Intolerance Group), specifies 10 parts per million and announced to the gluten free food producers that seek certification that it has no intention of changing that standard.

  The United States has no official definition of “gluten free”. Our Food and Drug Administration has been directed to develop a definition and has until August 2, 2008 to complete that task. The proposed rules call for a maximum of 20 parts per million of gluten in any item labeled gluten free, and does not exclude oats. Cynthia Kupper, executive director of The Gluten Intolerance Group, has written about thenegative and positive aspect of this definition. The first part of the article contains information important only to professional dieticians, but starting with the heading “Labeling GF Foods” she provides ideas that all of us need to consider carefully.

  The  “twenty parts per million” figure was set for technical reasons. Here’s part of a summary written by a law firm that works with food companies on food labeling and other liability issues: “…FDA determined that there is currently insufficient data to establish a threshold level based on the risk to people with celiac disease posed by different levels of gluten. Instead, FDA based the proposed threshold level on available gluten detection methods. FDA states…that present analytical methods can reliably and consistently detect gluten only at 20 ppm or above.”

  PAUL’S POINT-OF-VIEW: I was embarrassed when I first read the definition at the top of this article. Apparently, during my nine years as a celiac I had chosen food assuming that everyone who told me in writing that their products were gluten free was passing on objective facts. For the past 18 months, I have passed on this so-called information in my blog.

I have no choice, and neither do most of you. Having a standard American definition will help to some extent. As you may have noticed, this site has not linked anyone to sites outside the United States. Definitions differ from country to country and so do the way common words are used. Good luck in your food choices! Please e-mail me at gfceliac@gmail.com if you have ideas that should be added to this article.