USA: FDA requests comments on GF labeling

http://www.foodconsumer.org/777/8/FDA_HHS_seeks_public_comments_on_gluten-free_labeling_of_foods.shtml

From foodconsumer

L.aws & P.olitics
FDA requests comments on gluten-free labeling of foods
By FDA
Jul 19, 2005, 23:12

Food labeling; Gluten-free labeling of foods; public meeting; request
for comments

July 19, 2005

Federal Register: (Volume 70, Number 137)

[Page 41356-41358]

[DOCID:fr19jy05-12]

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

[Docket No. 2005N-0279]

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting; request for comments.

SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing a public
meeting to obtain expert comment and consultation from stakeholders to
help the agency to define and permit the voluntary use on food
labeling of the term ``gluten-free''.

The meeting will focus on food manufacturing, analytical methods, and
consumer issues related to reduced levels of gluten in food. We
request that those who wish to speak at the meeting, or otherwise
provide FDA with their written or oral comments, focus on the
questions set out in this document.

DATES: The public meeting will be held on Friday, August 19, 2005,
from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. All those attending the meeting must register
by August 12, 2005. See the ``Registration'' heading of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document for details on how
to register. Submit written or electronic comments by September 19,
2005.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the Food and Drug
Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5100
Paint Branch Pkwy., Harvey W. Wiley Auditorium, College Park, MD
20740.

You may submit written comments, identified with Docket No.
2005N-0279, to the Division of Dockets Management, 5630 Fishers Lane,
rm.1061, Rockville, MD 20852. Submit electronic comments to
http://www.fda.gov/dockets/ecomments

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For general questions about the meeting, to register, to request
permission to speak at the meeting, to request onsite parking, or if
you need special accommodations due to a disability: Marion V. Allen,
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (HFS-32), Food and Drug
Administration, 5100 Paint Branch Pkwy., College Park, MD 20740,
301-436-1584, FAX: 301-436-2605, e-mail: marion...@fda.hhs.gov.

For technical questions: Rhonda R. Kane, Center for Food Safety and
Applied Nutrition (HFS-820), Food and Drug Administration, 5100 Paint
Branch Pkwy., College Park, MD 20740, 301-436-2371, FAX: 301-436-2636,
e-mail: rhond...@fda.hhs.gov.

[SNIP]

[NON-USA readers, please see the last paragraph of this post - we need
YOUR help in this.]

Personally, I find this only moderately exciting, and very, very
frustrating. After all this time, they're still going through this
type of bureaucracy, and already have plenty of existing experience
around the world concerning what appropriately constitutes "gluten
free" for labeling purposes. Personally, I suspect they've been
lobbied heavily by the food industries because it's just "too hard" to
identify all the sources of gluten, and keep up with changes from
their suppliers.

That said, I have another "beef" with this process. They're asking
consumers to play scientist and tell them - the supposed government
experts - what the standards should be. By that same logic, any of us
who fly in commercial airliners should then be consulted when it comes
to setting standards for how many steel plys should be in airline
tires, how much recirculated air should be allowed in airliners vs.
fresh air, etc. Yes, a few in the celiac community have become quite
informed, but the vast majority are not chemists, food scientists,
etc., and at best they can only hope to get a loud plea from celiac
patients to "just do it." Any specific guidance offered by "us" is
relatively worthless, compared to the expert testimony by physicians,
chemists, etc., who study this.

My personal comments to them will be similar to the above with the
bottom line being that they should model it after countries who've
already, and long ago, set standards for the safety and health of
their citizens.

I'd personally like to see comments from those in OTHER countries that
already have GF standards, on just how successful and adequate those
standards are, and then we can perhaps flood the FDA with
recommendations to simply not reinvent the wheel, but instead go with
what's already working well, and name specific countries. I hope
enough non-USA readers will be following this thread at least for
interest or curiousity, to see this request, and respond. Perhaps a
separate thread will be needed, but let's see.

Thanks for any comments.

C.R.

IMHO 'gluten free' should mean exactly what it says - not merely 'no
detectable' because, as you have probably noticed, the standards in
different countries variies so much as to make a joke of the
'standards' - one country will allow 200 ppm, another 20ppm whilst a
few say zero.

John.

On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 12:27:20 GMT, Judy Haight <jkha...@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

>It frustrates me too. I would rather hear that any processed food

John.

----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

Firstly I find it really bizarre that a country like the USA is only
just trying to define the term gluten free.

I'm in Oz. To be classified as GF, food here must be capable of being
tested to less than 5ppm of gluten. This is, I believe, the present
limit of the current ELISA test

Any product labelled "gluten free" must be capable of being tested to
within those limits.

Any product containing barley or malt, is NOT allowed to use the term GF
on their labelling even if the product tests GF because the ELISA test
has the known limitation of not picking up barley and barley malt.

Re: labelling.
Any ingredient used in a product must declare any of the known allergens
(gluten, dairy, seafood, soy, nuts etc.) on the label. So, for example,
if a product uses maltodextrin and that is wheat based, the label must
read "maltodextrin (wheat)" or "maltodextrin from wheat". If the
ingredient just says "maltodextrin" we are to assume that it is made
from a safe base like potato or tapioca.

This is good in theory, but unfortunately there are still occasions
where the manufacturer is using a non-GF ingredient believing it to be
GF because their supplier has told them that it is and unfortunately,
their supplier doesn't really know what GF means! I believe that a new
committee has just been set up with ANZFA (government body which
controls the labelling etc) to address this problem.

One of the issues I personally have with the 5ppm classification is that
things like dextrose, glucose syrup, caramel colour etc can all be made
from wheat and they are on the Coeliac Society's list of allowable
foods. Whilst they "legally" test GF, I still do not tolerate them at all.

In an ideal world, I would like to see all products labelled gluten free
to mean exactly that - that they have no derivatives of any gluten
containing grain anywhere down the processing chain.

R.

I don't know how it is in other countries, but the USA is run for the
good of the corporations, not the people. Lobbying is a really
important function of business, and companies contribute big money to
election compaigns. Our elected officials do indeed remember who
contributed to getting them elected. So much for democracy.

The National Restaurant Association and all the state restaurant
associations are big into lobbying. This contributes to keeping wages
low, and not disclosing health information such as carbohydrates and
fats on the menu. People stop eating out so sales go down, but the
restaurants and restaurant associations just don't seem to get it.

Sales of organic foods, low glycemic index foods, gluten free and
other allergy-free foods keep going up, while sales of breads and
cereal foods drop just a bit. The corporations see this but just
don't seem to get it.

A couple of fun places to watch for food trends generally and trends
in food corporations are http://foodnavigator.com/ and
http://bakeryandsnacks.com/. The web site for the National Restaurant
Association is http://www.restaurant.org/.

Judy

Karen

"Judy Haight" <jkha...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:6afvd1tukdf0v98o4...@4ax.com...

Hi Karen

Rant accepted and justified.

What does one do though ??? We have a government which seems to be
slowly selling off all the commodities, killing the health system,
destroying the education system and a leader who just can't bring
himself to say the word "sorry" to the indigenous of this country who
suffered badly at the hands of the early white settlers.

I would love to see someone from GWB's family get diagnosed with CD.
Just watch your legislation change PDQ !!

R.

Get back on your medication dweeb. You mental deformity is showing again.

"Reincarnated" <alw...@the-cinema.com> wrote in message
news:j36vd1dtdfl1og46a...@4ax.com...

"Rosemary" <rose...@sillyYak.com.au> wrote in message
news:42e061af$1...@duster.adelaide.on.net...

"Karen" <kk5...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:11e0jc6...@corp.supernews.com...

news:225vd1dd3oes576no...@4ax.com...

1. Celiac disease is for real.
2. Learn how to spell.
3. Go fuck yourself, troll fucking loser.

Maybe you should try and get Keating to say 'sorry' for the economic
problems he caused? Oh sorry - I forgot - that was just the recession
we had to have!

If people stopped living in the past and looked to the future instead
of trying to change something that have literally hundreds of years
ago, then maybe, just maybe, the world would be a better place to live
in.

</rant>

John.

The requirement for research and proof goes both ways; there's no
proof because noone's done enough research YET. There's no disproof
either; a disproof would have to be researched much more diligently
and the science in it would have to be irrefutable. Such has not
occurred because we don't as yet have the means.

Would you mind please showing *your* scientific proof for both of YOUR
main assertions? (to whit: global warming is bunkum and the previous
poster is a moron).

No? Then it appears your statements of fact above are mere OPINIONS.
If less people thought like you, and more decided to CHECK what was
going on, there might be less opinions like yours floating about...
RESEARCH GENERATES KNOWLEDGE. I attach zero importance or credibility
to your opinions above, because they are based upon precisely zero
research.

Personally, I'm open minded about GW until someone either proves or
disproves it; but you cannot deny (well, you could, but it would be
stupid to) that our emissions of smoke, chemicals and other
contaminants into the atmosphere is harmful in many ways. It's also
nothing like the environment that is MEANT to exist on this planet.
Go to the Falkland Islands in summer, and breathe air which is
immensely less polluted than that in more populated areas, and you'll
agree with me. It smells and tastes and feels WONDERFUL.

Yet again (like in so many of your other posts that I have read this
morning) you prove yourself to be in posession of an unbelievable
arrogance and bigotry, and a quite monstrous ego.
--

Tom Kelsall
Remove caps to email

"John P Bengi" <JBengi (spamm)@(spamm) yahoo,com> wrote in message
news:HeKdna4unrt...@golden.net...

Plonk

Karen

news:SfidnbOUb9B...@golden.net...

Not getting into a political with you here.
If more people learned how to say "sorry" perhaps the world could be a
better place. Who knows?

And I don't disagree with you about saying 'sorry' but not when you
are supposed to apologise for something that you had absolutely noting
to do with and therefore no control over. The world would be a better
place if do-gooders stopped trying to make todays generation apologise
for actions taken years before they were even born.

John.

>In the USA... we're talking about a country that still has a problem ...
>global warming ... air pollution ... gay marriage ... drugs ...

Entirely useless post. How does it advance the idea of setting
standards, staying (or getting) healthy, etc.? Have you already
bothered to provide your input to the government you so roundly
criticize? Or did you take the position that the government is too
far gone, so it would be a waste of your time - thereby remaining part
of the problem rather than part of the solution?

How 'bout taking this to the 75+ alt.politics.* groups pertaining to
the USA, where your post will be entirely on topic and potentially
useful - then stick to productive contributions pertaining to CD when
posting here?

C.R.

It's interesting what you choose to cut out of my post:
----

----
We do have a bad habit of being more concerned with swallowing gnats than
camels. And a worse habit of letting lobbyists help write our government
regs. If our health care system weren't running so much on pharmaceutical
dollars, we might see more research on and testing for Celiac which would
reduce complications on a host of ailments for undiagnosed Celiacs. If you
disagree that schools are underfunded and think Vioxx was adequately tested,
well YMMV.

When the FDA is working on setting gluten standards, it's a political issue.
(hint: the FDA is a _government_ agency)

Karen

<key...@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:egs2e113uj3mkjcl1...@4ax.com...

news:11e1ntl...@corp.supernews.com...

news:11e39re...@corp.supernews.com...

>bound to land in a cow pie. My elected officials know exactly where I stand...

I jumped to no conclusion - I asked that as an either/or question.
You answered it. So where's the cow pie? Or the conclusion? I've
been standing upright this whole time, and the soles of my shoes are
nice and clean.

And I'm very pleased to hear that you're among the minority of
Americans who are actually involved in the political process - or even
know anything about it. Did you happen to jump to the conclusion that
I would feel differently?

>...And the post is entirely on topic

Entirely on topic?!? Global warming + air polution + gay marriage +
underfunded schools + insufficiently tested drugs = celiac disease????
Wow! I need to go back and do some more study of my condition - I had
no idea it was that comprehensive.

Huh? Say again: who is it that's jumping around here? I moved
exactly in the order of your post - from top to bottom - and simply
snipped out the non-topic words from your paragraph, leaving the
specific topics you included in a post on a celiac newsgroup. Top to
bottom - that's linear. "Jumping around" - that's non-linear. And my
"jumping around" was where, again?

After my linear quoting of excerpts from your post (i.e. in the very
same order in which you posted them), I then commented. I'm certainly
missing how that's "jumping around" - unless for some reason you were
making a self-evaluation and recognized some personal behavior(s) that
seemed scattered. But I'll leave that self-assessment for you to
make.

Ok, since you found it necessary to repost exactly what you wrote the
first time, I'll put brackets around those portions of your paragraph
that I chose to "cut out."

And it came out looking like this:

Note that I included your last two sentences in that paragraph, in
their entirety. I did that because they were directly relevent to the
topic of this newsgroup, and because they are statements with which I
am in full agreement. I said as much in another post on this
newsgroup, concerning the comment period for labeling of gluten-free
foods, and clear identification of gluten-containing foods. You
appear to perceive me as being in opposition to your views on the
politics of celiac disease. You could not be more wrong. I merely
don't want to wade through a "RANT" (your term) on non-celiac issues.

You continued:

Agreed, assuming the "we" was generic, not a finger pointing "we."

Agreed.

Agreed.

> If you disagree that schools are underfunded ...

Here's where I disagree - though I suspect you'd be surprised at my
reasons for that belief. But do I agree there are serious problems in
the schools? Absolutely.

>and think Vioxx was adequately tested ...

It probably was not, but I can't say I agree 100% yet since I haven't
studied the issue in sufficient depth to make a sweeping statement. I
do know that we sent in a refill the morning the recall was announced,
and the mail order pharmacy would not refund the cost paid, plus it
took many months for the company to do so - after multiple attempts.
Do I think the pharmaceutical industry is generallly corrupt? No
doubt in my mind.

>well YMMV.

Whatever that means....

Agreed. As is anything else the government does, by definition.

Your use of thinly veiled sarcasm to suggest I don't have a clue since
I "need" your "hint," certainly seems to further suggest it's not me
who's "jumping to conclusions."

Now that you see the significant amount of agreement, politically,
I'll state once again that all the non-CD portion of your
self-advertised "RANT" is out of place here. It merely detracts from
the purpose of the newsgroup. A simple statement that "the
bureaucratic and money-driven government process contributes greatly
to the problem," would have served the same purpose without going off
on a laundry list of other issues. It would keep things focused on
the real reason we're all here (er- I mean almost all, one troll
excepted who shall go unnamed).

But of course I can see that my opinion is not as valuable as yours,
so if you choose to rant on, you will do so without my participation
in what I still think detracts from the purpose here.

It occurs to me that in-fighting merely mirrors the political process
you brought into the group, and similar results can therefore be
expected if it continues.

JMOAISOI.

C.R.

Karen

<key...@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:k3e3e11lfp0aian7s...@4ax.com...

Karen.. Karen... when will you realize others have feelings and a life just
as important as yours?

Stop trolling the group please.

news:11e4nk5...@corp.supernews.com...

Rough justice is - *you* show *___U R a moron___* even acknowledging
the Gymmy B0B/J P Bengi arsehole exists.

When U R smart enough to know when your chain is being rattled, then post a
contribution. Till then..Go RTFM.