10 marzo 2009

EC approves new Regulations for GLUTEN

The labeling of gluten content on food products aimed to protect people with coeliac disease, up to now has been under the regulation of Codex Alimentarius, in which the limit has been set at

200 ppm for food products derived from cereal raw material and at 20 ppm for food derived from non-cereal raw material. From the 20th of January 2009, the European Commission (EC) Regulation 41/2009 established new limits regarding the labeling of gluten content on food products.
The new Regulation sets that products derived from cereal raw material with a gluten content lower than 100 ppm should be labeled as “low gluten content”. The same products can be labeled as “gluten-free” if the gluten content is lower than 20 ppm.
The products derived from non-cereal raw materials must have a gluten content lower than 20 ppm and can be labeled as “gluten-free”.
This new Regulation increases the consumers’ protection and rises the attention of the importance of labeling the food products with the words “gluten-free” or “low gluten content”.

Reg412009EN (42 kB)