Zero ppm?

April 17, 2010

Lillyth,

I can only assume your manufacturer was using a bit of hyperbole or didn’t

consider the difference between zero and 20 ppm significant. When I hear

conflicting opinions I always try to find a primary source. Here is the information

closest to a primary source that I could find on this subject.

Here is the actual regulation from

the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. You will note it makes no actual

mention of “parts per million.”

9.9.4 Gluten-Free Foods [b.24.018, B.24.019]

A food is not

permitted to be labelled, packaged, sold or advertised in a manner likely to

create an impression that it is " gluten-free " unless it does

not contain wheat, including spelt and kamut, or oats, barley, rye,

triticale or any part thereof.

For information detailing

how they actually test foods labeled gluten-free, I found this on the Health

Canada web site:

Tolerance to gluten

varies among individuals with CD and there are limited clinical scientific data

on a threshold for the amount of gluten required to initiate or maintain an

immunological reaction in CD patients. Therefore, there is no clear consensus on

a safe gluten threshold level.

Currently, as per

section B.24.018 of the Food and Drug Regulations (Government

of Canada 2009), a food cannot be labelled as " gluten-free " if it

contains wheat, including spelt and kamut, or oats, barley, rye or triticale or

any part thereof. For compliance purposes, for food products labelled as

" gluten-free " , Health Canada uses a maximum limit of 20 ppm. Based on current

scientific evidence, this generally represents a maximum level which can be

used to interpret Section B.24.018 of the Food and Drug Regulations where

a food is prepared under good manufacturing conditions aimed at achieving the

lowest possible levels of gluten resulting from cross-contamination. This

action level is consistent with the Standard for Foods for Special Dietary Use

for Persons Intolerant to Gluten (CODEX STAN 118 - 1979) established by Codex

Alimentarius (Codex 2008) and is subject to periodic review as new data become

available regarding emerging analytical techniques and a possible gluten threshold.

This maximum limit will be applied to " gluten-free " natural health

products which may contain gluten as a contaminant.

(Health

Canada is a federal agency in Canada charged with keeping Canadians healthy.)

I believe I’ve posted this link before, but since it

gives a good presentation of the differing opinions on the meaning of “Gluten-Free”

so I’m posting the link again.

http://www.celiactoday.com/Community/Opinions_Differ_as_US_FDA_Prepares_To_Define_What_‘GlutenFree’_Means

The lowest test I have heard

of detects gluten at 3 ppm.

I don’t know why they don’t use this test routinely or why the FDA doesn’t

use 3ppm as a standard instead of 20. Maybe it is expensive or hard to

administer. Or maybe most manufacturers would just be very unlikely to be

able to meet this standard. At this point, I am not aware of

any test that will detect anything less than 3 ppm gluten.

Pam

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of Lillyth Denaghy

Keogh-Quillan

Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 2:23 PM

Subject: RE: [ ] Zero ppm?

Yes. They do. I have

spoken to manufacturers who have told me they test their products to Canadian

standards, which are zero ppm. Canada will not let your product into the

country with a GF label on it unless it tests at zero ppm.

At least, this was the case a few years aog.

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of Harper

Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 9:12 AM

Subject: Re: [ ] Zero ppm?

Does Canada really call for zero ppm in GF products?

H.

-----Original Message-----

From: Joe Herman <jhinsf@...>

< >

Cc: < > < >

Sent: Fri, Apr 16, 2010 8:41 am

Subject: Re: [ ] FDA Research Study (really just a survey)

Can someone please point out research which discusses a

commercially available gluten test which tests to the level of zero ppm?

I have never seen this.

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 16, 2010, at 8:00 AM, " Lillyth Denaghy Keogh-Quillan " <lillythdenaghykeogh@...>

wrote:

See, everyone says there is no way to make it zero ppm. I

think that is TOTAL BS. That is Canada’s standard, and they are