|2005N-0279||Food Labeling; Gluten-Free Labeling of Foods; Public Meeting|
|FDA Comment Number :||EC297|
|Submitter :||Mr. Steve Veach||Date & Time:||09/01/2005 05:09:16|
|Organization :||Mr. Steve Veach|
|Category :||Individual Consumer|
| 1. What should "gluten-free" mean on a food label? Why? It should mean either A) there is absolutely no gluten in the product or B) once a formal medical study proves that a certain level of gluten causes no intestinal damage, then it should mean that there is no more gluten than was found safe in the studies.
2. How do you identify foods that do not contain gluten? And Time spent identifying foods?
I have to laboriously read ingredient labels and have memorized the commmon gluten containing ingredients. Furthermore, to be more safe, I have to call the manufacturer to make sure an ingredient doesn't contain hiddent gluten like caramel coloring for example.
3. What percentage of foods and which types purchased are marked "gluten-free"?
I buy about 50% labeled gluten-free foods. The rest are not labeled and I either have to take a chance that I will get sick or wait days sometimes for a response from the manufacturer to veryify the lack of gluten AND the unlikely chance there is cross contamination.
4. Does "gluten-free" printed on a product label influence your decision to purchase prouducts having the same ingredients? And to what extent?
It influences my decision to buy labeled products very highly.