New study just came out, and it's saying what a lot of celiacs have been saying for years: gluten free products are not always as gluten free as they claim.
In the study, out of 158 products labeled gluten free, 5% of those with the gluten free label with not gluten free. 4% of the products labeled as certified gluten free were not gluten free, and these are the ones that are supposed to certify as having half the allowed gluten contamination as the regular gluten free label.
https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/blog/Five-Percent-of-Tested-Foods-Making-Gluten-Free-Claims-are-not-Gluten-Free-Study-Finds/41
Personally, I think this is the canary in the coal mine of contamination. Gluten currently is one of the only allergens to have actual ppm contamination standards on the books. The other allergens do not. You would expect that having to meet actual standards would increase compliance, to avoid prosecution if nothing else.
So if gluten free foods are only gluten free about 95% of the time, what's the level of 'free' for other allergens that list themselves as soy free, egg free, and so on?
Obviously, it's something we have to figure out for ourselves. But for those of us with serious allergies, or who have very serious reactions to allergens, I think this may be a factor to consider for our food. Yet another potential reason to start looking at whole foods rather than processed foods when making dietary choices.
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