Foods that have “gluten-free” on their label may actually contain significant amounts of gluten -- enough to cause gastrointestinal symptoms in those with celiac disease who have an intolerance to the wheat protein. That is because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration never established a standard for the label, leaving it up to manufacturers to define what they mean by gluten-free.
Now, though, the agency is moving forward with a new standard that manufacturers will be required to meet before they can slap on the gluten-free label. Federal officials are proposing that cookies, bread, and other wheat products making this claim can contain no more that 20 parts per million of gluten, a level below which gluten cannot be detected by standard lab tests.