Patients with celiac disease can now buy products labeled gluten free with confidence that the foods really do have no more than trace amounts of the protein found in wheat and some other grains. US Food and Drug Administration rules requiring gluten-free products to contain fewer than 20 parts per million of gluten, originally published in 2013, are now binding on manufacturers. The agency says most people with celiac disease, which affects an estimated 3 million Americans, can tolerate those tiny amounts-the lowest level that can be consistently detected in foods using current scientific tools.
This standard gluten-free definition will eliminate uncertainty about how food producers label their products, said Felicia Billingslea, FDA deputy commissioner.