When state officials sought to shut down a Durham food company last month for marketing bread as gluten-free that tested positive for gluten, cheers went up across the country among those suffering from celiac disease.
“What North Carolina did enforcing gluten-free claims is say, ‘We’re going to take the health of North Carolinians seriously,” said Alice Bast, executive director of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, a nonprofit based outside Philadelphia. “I have to applaud North Carolina.”
Enforcement of gluten-free claims on food products is rare because federal officials have yet to define the term “gluten-free.” The Federal Drug Administration was supposed to have a definition by 2008 but the process has dragged on. Without a government definition, those with celiac disease have to rely on food companies to be honest about the contents of their products, test the products regularly, and prevent cross-contamination. ”Without the FDA having their final ruling, companies can do whatever they want,” says Cynthia Kupper, executive director of the Gluten Intolerance Group, a company based in Washington state that certifies food companies’ gluten-free claims.
Read the full article, by Andrea Weigl, published February 1, 2010: www.newsobserver.com/life/food/story/314548.html.